Scales, scales....

My two (just about audible) 2 cents worth...

From what I remember, and everyone knows:

1. Pitch discrimination is not just a matter of cent differences.
2. Pitch discrimination varies over the range of human hearing, and is worse
in both high and low registers, and is optimal in the band where speech
occurs.
3. Intonation variability in performance on any non-fixed pitch instrument,
which is just about anything except keyboards electronic and acoustic, and
possibly the organ.

I'd like to see anyone hear differences of 1-4 cent in a passage of
semiquavers played Allegro.

Tell me, has anyone studied the effect of tuning variance on 'passage work'
as strings call that sort of thing? IMHO, I think that discussion of minor
pitch differences can only occur where the listener has time and the
acoustic surroundings to focus on the note(s) in question. It's a bit like
the difference between jumping off a high building and measuring gravity in
a lab; in one you feel the acceleration, but don't give a damn about how
much, the other you can spend time worring about accuracy and don't give a
damn about how it feels.

Mark

> From: tuning@yahoogroups.com
> Reply-To: tuning@yahoogroups.com
> Date: 1 Apr 2002 00:16:17 -0000
> To: tuning@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [tuning] Digest Number 1992
>
> even want to call {1/n cents | n is a non-zero integer} a scale.
>
> Hi Gene!
>
> Well, that's a good point. Is there any serious consideration that
> people would want to make scales that consisted of pitches less than
> a cent? It seems people can't even really decide if people can
> actually hear and reproduce one cent... ??
>
> jp
>
>