Re: [Harp-L] OT: music that sounds good in only one key

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Voicings dont account for this pianist perception, and I doubt that differences 
in pitch do either. Classical pianists also claim this perception, though some 
wonder whether it's "real" or just imaginary. Transposing a piece of music 
literally to a key only a semitone away (i.e., no changes in voicings) should 
not make any difference to harmonics and neither should the pitch level, and yet 
pianists "hear" enormous differences under these circumstances .

One explanation that has been advanced is that this perception was quite real 
during the time, roughly two centuries ago, when pianos were not equal tempered 
and various compromise temperaments were concocted to make some keys sound 
better at the expense of others, and that the perception has been taught and 
absorbed by pianists ever since, even though equal temperament long ago erased 
those differences.
 Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
Harmonica instructor, The Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance
Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com
Columnist, harmonicasessions.com




________________________________
From: "sheltraw@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <sheltraw@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Robert Hale <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Mon, February 7, 2011 8:46:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] OT: music that sounds good in only one key

Hi Robert

> I understand sharing the sonic space in ensemble, but I wonder what would
> make some keys sound more harsh?

In order to avoid the frequency-space of other instruments the pianist may
be restricting the chords to a particular region of the keyboard. A
particular key may then dictate a particular voicing in that region of
the keyboard for one or more chords. Some voicings sound harsher than others.

This is not the only plausible explanation. The relative amplitude of the
harmonics associated with each note on the piano is not fixed exactly. So
keeping the same relative voicing while transposing to a different key
could, for some sensitive ears, sound unacceptably compromised.

<snip>