Key Characteristics, Which, How, Why.

[gamba]

I play the note e flat on my recorder or 'cello. Do I hear guns, bombs, the sounds of war ? Of course not. Let's try one tone up, the note f, where are those delightful shepherdesses & the sheep safely grazing ? Or so I have been led to understand inhabit these shores.
Beethoven used e flat as the most appropriate scale when writing the Eroica & ' Emperor ' piano concerto, music of a militaristic nature. He also found a scale starting with F produced nice pictures of the countryside in his 6th. symphony, Handel too, for the section within ' Messiah ' called Pastoral Symphony & many others. What are they up to ?
And what do they all know that I don't know, someone please tell me.

If I start a scale on a given note, surely all I contribute is a choice of pitch - apparently not.

( I am just referring to major scales )

[Pabmusic]

...If I start a scale on a given note, surely all I contribute is a choice of pitch - apparently not.

( I am just referring to major scales )

There are so many answers one could give (including discussion of the way pitch has changed) that I'll have to be very selective.

Different scales require different fingerings (or equivalents), some more awkward than others, some resulting in more 'stopped' notes - in whatever way - and thus in a different sound. This is particularly noticeable with strings, but it is not confined to them. The key G major allows all the open strings of all stringed instruments to sound at one time or another (C, G, D, A and E). G-flat major does not. Many composers have exploited these differences.

[MrGongGong]

It's like having an appendix

It USED to mean something
but now it means a little but not as much
there ARE obvious differences to do with instrument construction etc BUT the whole thrust of Western Music has been to try and eliminate these things in favour of an homogenous sound......(unlike the Shakuhachi for example or even the highland bagpipes)

The scale starting on "F" doesn't really say anything about the countryside more than it would if it started on Gb or B or even Fb (which is , of course , NOT the same note as "E")

I found this interesting

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Equal-Temperament-Ruined-Harmony/dp/0393334201

(sorry for the repetition BUT it's Sonata Form innit )

[gamba]

I hope you may all appreciate that I am not entirely serious regarding this matter, not entirely, but with some aspects niggling my sense of ' how things should be ' but a'int ' - anyway, I think it's worthy of discussion when one has nothing better to do !

[gamba]

Another thing, I like tuning my cello to 415 instead of 440 - makes the strings last longer !!

[MrGongGong]

Another thing, I like tuning my cello to 415 instead of 440 - makes the strings last longer !!

Aaaah now that's a well know technique used by death metal bands
i'm not sure that anyone tunes to 440 these days anyhow !

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

i'm not sure that anyone tunes to 440 these days anyhow !

I do.

[MrGongGong]

I do.

It's interesting that many instrument manufacturers no longer make instruments at 440 preferring 442
Oboeists often insist that they DO tune to 440 but all you have to do is to look at a harpist when an orchestra is tuning to see if that's the case or not !

[Richard Barrett]

all you have to do is to look at a harpist when an orchestra is tuning to see if that's the case or not !

As Stravinsky is supposed to have said, harpists spend 90% of their time tuning their instruments and the other 10% playing out of tune. (Actually some of my best friends are harpists, well one anyway, but it was she who told me this so I guess I'll be forgiven.)

[MrGongGong]

As Stravinsky is supposed to have said, harpists spend 90% of their time tuning their instruments and the other 10% playing out of tune. (Actually some of my best friends are harpists, well one anyway, but it was she who told me this so I guess I'll be forgiven.)

One has to admire their Volvo reversing skills though

[Richard Barrett]

One has to admire their Volvo reversing skills though

One does, except that the harpist in question actually drives a Citroën C5, an unorthodox choice to be sure but it seems to do the job.

[BBMmk2]

Well, at least we brass musicians don't have to worry about strings etc. All we have to do is to adjust the tubing, as to where is needed and that's it. Trombones, well that's a different matter, and flugelhorn players, are slightly different too.

[Pabmusic]

Well, at least we brass musicians don't have to worry about strings etc. All we have to do is to adjust the tubing, as to where is needed and that's it. Trombones, well that's a different matter, and flugelhorn players, are slightly different too.

That's true, but even then, the quality of notes can vary (a little) depending on how much extra plumbing is brought into play.

Which reminds me - the OP specifically linked E-flat with martial music. Well, the most common military trumpets of the 18th century were pitched in E-flat, so that their addition to your orchestra predetermined the key. Note at the Cenotaph service every year, the Royal Marine buglers sound the Last Post (bugles in B-flat) to be answered by the RAF playing Reveille (cavalry trumpets in E-flat). It was Walford Davies as first Director of Music chose cavalry trumpets for the RAF, to be different.

[cloughie]

One does, except that the harpist in question actually drives a Citroën C5, an unorthodox choice to be sure but it seems to do the job.

Is it an estate in which case it is a good choice.

[Gordon]

Resisting the temptation to start a string [Oops, sorry] of harpist jokes .....some years ago my boss was David Masters, father of Rachel, and we spent a whole afternoon at work once designing a wooden harp case for his daughter's harp so that would fit in the back of his ....Volvo estate!!!

Going back to keys etc, I do not have a good sense of pitch sufficient to hear and recognise a specific "key" but I do seem to be able to get Eflat reliably when I hear it. If that, why not others?

While we're at it what about chords? I suppose that musicians out there reliably get Picardy Thirds and augmented ninths as if they were dominant sevenths [which I can usually get!]?