On Wednesday 01 August 2001 13:46, you wrote:
> In an e-mail whose subject was "What makes a style Scottish?"
>
> Nigel Gatherer wrote:
> I was also fascinated by Alexander's statement: "The ear's perception
> of a note can vary so greatly that the literature uses two terms;
> "frequency"...and "pitch"...and the two can vary by as much as a whole
> tone..." I often disagree with what an electric tuner says is in tune
> and make minor adjustments to suit my ear. I wonder if this is an
> illustration of that difference?
>
> My comment:
> I have no doubt whatsoever that that is what is happening. I don't claim
> to be an expert in the workings of electronic tuners but I think they
> are such a menace that they should be barred from use. This is what I
> think is happening. An electronic tuner is measuring the fundamental but
> what your ear is "measuring", hearing, on a "note" on an acoustic
> instrument is much more. What your ear "hears" is a composite of the
> fundamental and as many as twenty harmonics which the ear perceives as a
> single "tone". The number of, and the relative intensity [loudness] of
> the harmonics influences the ear's perception of the fundamental, and in
> making music perception is reality.
Might this variation in the harmonics also explain another phenomenon: two
instruments are tuned using the same electronic tuner, and when checked
against that, appear that they're in tune with each other, and each one
sounds in tune by itself, but.. when played together, they sound *out of
tune* with each other. Could the differences in the harmonics of individual
instruments create that effect, if the tuner is measuring the fundamental?
I'm not a big fan of electronic tuners either - my favorite tuning "device"
is a tuning fork.. no batteries to run down, and no annoying little needle
jumping around alternately indicating both sharp and flat on the same string.
Wendy
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