Five Pieces you would be happy to never hear again

[rauschwerk]

I don't think so. The wirelesses I remember, like the one we had in our village school, had all sorts of valves, funny noises - and wires coming out of it.

Before Marconi's work made wireless broadcasting possible, there was wired broadcasting - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyar_R%C3%A1di%C3%B3

Wireless broadcasts were received on wireless broadcast receiver sets, soon abbreviated to 'wireless set' or just 'wireless'.

[Serial_Apologist]

Apropos keys - however modern tuning may differ from the original, one thing is true; certain keys are harsher or kinder on players because of their instrumental technique. And even more significantly, some keys allow for more open strings, which actually affects the sound. D major and G major were perhaps the favourite 18th century orchestral keys simply because the majority of open strings sounded in the home key. Likewise, A-flat and D-flat - though rarely used then - produced a different sound quality, since almost no open strings came into play.

I've often wondered what the term "open strings" means - can somebody enlighten me? Is it "without vibrato"??

[vinteuil]

I've often wondered what the term "open strings" means - can somebody enlighten me? Is it "without vibrato"??

... the 'open strings' of the violin are G3, D4, A4, and E5.

Playing on these does not require the violinist to use the fingers of the left hand. The sound produced by an 'open' string is (subtly) different from that produced by the violinist stopping the string to create a different note. And I imagine vibrato is impossible on an open string (hooray!).

Now over to our various violinists to amend / correct...


.

[ahinton]

... the 'open strings' of the violin are G3, D4, A4, and E5.

Playing on these does not require the violinist to use the fingers of the left hand. The sound produced by an 'open' string is (subtly) different from that produced by the violinist stopping the string to create a different note. And I imagine vibrato is impossible on an open string (hooray!).

Now over to our various violinists to amend / correct...

I am not a violinist and there is nothing to correct!

[Serial_Apologist]

... the 'open strings' of the violin are G3, D4, A4, and E5.

Playing on these does not require the violinist to use the fingers of the left hand. The sound produced by an 'open' string is (subtly) different from that produced by the violinist stopping the string to create a different note. And I imagine vibrato is impossible on an open string (hooray!).

Now over to our various violinists to amend / correct...


.

Ah, I see! Makes obvious sense. Many thanks for the explanation, vints!

[teamsaint]

... the 'open strings' of the violin are G3, D4, A4, and E5.

Playing on these does not require the violinist to use the fingers of the left hand. The sound produced by an 'open' string is (subtly) different from that produced by the violinist stopping the string to create a different note. And I imagine vibrato is impossible on an open string (hooray!).

Now over to our various violinists to amend / correct...


.

Quite.
Which is why keys like A Flat Major and E Flat major are sometimes regarded as " String unfriendly", as much of the time can be spent playing out of first position( the first one that you learn with the left hand immediately adjacent to the scroll, and the easiest for the less experienced player), although I doubt any of this is any kind of an issue for professionals, who would routinely avoid playing open strings, in many circumstances anyway , because of the tone and lack of vibrato opportunity.

[teamsaint]

Poor old Lennie is getting a bashing today.

[Serial_Apologist]

I am not a violinist and there is nothing to correct!

But presumably if you were an employee of Carillion you would be concerned about the top people being allegedly on the fiddle, and ringing a few alarm bells?

[Pabmusic]

... the 'open strings' of the violin are G3, D4, A4, and E5.

Playing on these does not require the violinist to use the fingers of the left hand. The sound produced by an 'open' string is (subtly) different from that produced by the violinist stopping the string to create a different note. And I imagine vibrato is impossible on an open string (hooray!).

Now over to our various violinists to amend / correct...


.

I'm no string player, but this is spot on. You could add that violas and cellos also have open Cs. The issue is really one of resonance - 'stopped' (fingered) notes are by their very nature slightly less resonant than open notes (note: where open notes are prominent, even fingered notes in different octaves are more resonant, since they are effectively harmonics of the open note). All very subtle, of course. Therefore keys that can employ open notes in 'key' positions (the tonic and fifth certainly) could sound more resonant overall. Consider what those keys were and compare with the most favoured 18th century orchestral keys - C, G, A, D (major or minor). D major was (I think) particularly favoured since it 'fitted' well with the open strings of the violin.

Consider Mozart's last three symphonies - E-flat, allowing for clarinets (no oboes) and with the 'warm' sound that comes from so many fingered notes; Gm, allowing fof more open strings, as well as a choice between clarinets/oboes and just oboes (but problems of horn writing, which Mozart copes with well); and C major, in which the extra brightness of lots of open string sounds tells really well.

[pastoralguy]

I've often wondered what the term "open strings" means - can somebody enlighten me? Is it "without vibrato"??

Listen to the first couple of bars of Berg's Violin Concerto. A beginner could play those. After that, it gets a wee bit tricky...

[Dave2002]

Is it not the case, though, that certain keys fit more happily with some instruments than others - flat keys for winds, sharp keys for strings, perhaps - and so in composers' minds certain keys could have instrumental associations...

We've seen responses about strings already. I don't see why flat keys should work for winds - though it may depend on the instrument, and also on the particular quirks. Many pieces with oboes and bassoons seem to be in keys like B flat and E flat - but it could just be coincidence. Flutes might work better in sharp keys until it gets really extreme. Clarinets - not sure - clarinettists have a choice of instruments usually. So is there any reason for pitch associations with wind instruments?

[ahinton]

But presumably if you were an employee of Carillion you would be concerned about the top people being allegedly on the fiddle, and ringing a few alarm bells?

...but I've never been an employee of anyone, thank God, so I cannot say; that said, I'm reasonably confident that, had this Carillion carry-on not happened because the industry concerned had instead been in government hands rather than as a PFI, the only material difference would likely have been a reduction in opportunities for personal greed concomitant with a like increase in administrative and operational incompetence, the ultimate effect being no better for those concerned and/or for others who might be or become victims thereof. I'm sure, however, that the Carillion example will come to be seen as just one of very many similar ones, but how any government can possibly construe and contrive any ind of practical and effective escape mechanism thereform is very hard to figure out given what has already been shown to have happened and what remains to be discovered over the next however many years, all of which will doubtless come to be recognised as the pizz...

[Alison]

Poor old Lennie is getting a bashing today.

I was thinking of lobbing in the Candide Overture to this thread!

That said it doesn't seem quite so ubiquitous these days.

[Pabmusic]

We've seen responses about strings already. I don't see why flat keys should work for winds - though it may depend on the instrument, and also on the particular quirks. Many pieces with oboes and bassoons seem to be in keys like B flat and E flat - but it could just be coincidence. Flutes might work better in sharp keys until it gets really extreme. Clarinets - not sure - clarinettists have a choice of instruments usually. So is there any reason for pitch associations with wind instruments?

It's about the acoustic properties of the fundemental tube (i.e., with no fingers down). Certain 'ancient' instruments inherited their pitches from tradition as much as anything - flutes certainly, being in C. Any extra plumbing was added (usually) to extend the limited range of the folk instruments. The result was that to play in certain registers you had to manipulate more keys, and more still if rhe key was far from the group of keys around C. The problem with this is only with sequences that don't lie easily beneath the fingers.

Bassoons, though pitched in C happen to have a lowest note of B-flat (I guess it's just quirk resulting from the ability to fit an extra bit of plumbing comfortably).

Clarinets are a different case, since their conical bore (rather than cylindrical like the others) means that, acoustically, their 'length' is longer than their physical length. This meant that there were problems with overblowing. That is, when you've played a scale and want ro attack the next octave, you overblow an octave. Except with a clarinet it's a twelfth. Much of the history of the clarinet has been about the plumbing to overcome this. But as you can guess, it's awkward and not finger-friendly in certain keys. Over a couple of centuries, the most useful clarinets have been the B-flat or the A, with their baby sisters the E-flat or D.

[oddoneout]

You could add that violas and cellos also have open Cs.

Which would make them 5 stringed....Double basses sometimes have 5, violas and cellos have 4 but CGDA rather than GDAE. Losing the cheesewire E string was a major plus point for me when moving from violin to viola.