Why sharps and flats - one answer.

Steps of fifths move towards sharps. FCGDAEBF#C# etc.
Steps of fourths move towards flats BEADGCFBbEb etc.

BTW The ergonomic design of many traditional instruments tend to make particular instruments easier to play in particular tonalities of keys.

e.g. Flat instruments include: Piano keyboards, clarinet, and most horns.

Sharp instruments include: guitar, and most strings

For more info. see:

http://www.lucytune.com/new_to_lt/pitch_05.html

Charles Lucy - lucy@harmonics.com
------------ Promoting global harmony through LucyTuning -------
for information on LucyTuning go to: http://www.lucytune.com
for LucyTuned Lullabies go to http://www.lullabies.co.uk
Buy/download/CD from: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lucytuned2

To help me grasp this, is it that if let's say A sharp
and B flat are different pitches, is it that A sharp
is flatter than B flat?
Justin

__________________________________
Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005
http://mail.yahoo.com

Uh, I believe that would depend on the tuning. For meantone temperaments with narrower fifths, there is considerable space between flattened notes and sharpened notes. Pythagorean and super-Pythagorean tunings, in contrast, have flats that extend well beyond the sharps, or vice versa.

I hear that there is a tendency to go Pythagorean in solo performances with, say, the violins, but a reverse tendency, say, with the cellos.

----- Original Message -----
From: Justin .
To: tuning@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 30 Eylül 2005 Cuma 0:11
Subject: Re: [tuning] Why sharps and flats - one answer.

To help me grasp this, is it that if let's say A sharp
and B flat are different pitches, is it that A sharp
is flatter than B flat?
Justin

"Ozan Yarman" <ozanyarman@superonline.com> writes:

> Uh, I believe that would depend on the tuning. For meantone temperaments with narrower fifths, there is considerable space between flattened notes and sharpened notes. Pythagorean and super-Pythagorean tunings, in contrast, have flats that extend well beyond the sharps, or vice versa.

Yes. A#, for instance, is seven fifths above A and Bb is seven fifths
below B, and B is two fifths above A; therefore A# is twelve fifths
above B. In Pythagorean tuning twelve fifths is a Pythagorean comma,
so A# is roughly a quarter of a semitone higher than Bb. Likewise in
any temperament (based on tempered fifths and just octaves) in which
the fifth is larger than 700 cents, A# is higher than Bb. In
temperaments where the fifth is smaller than 700 cents -- quarter
comma meantone, for instance -- A# is lower than Bb. And in the
temperament where the fifth is exactly 700 cents -- which is 12ET --
A# is the same as Bb.

- Rich Holmes

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Justin ." <justinasia@y...> wrote:
> To help me grasp this, is it that if let's say A sharp
> and B flat are different pitches, is it that A sharp
> is flatter than B flat?

It depends on the historical period you are talking about. A# started
out as sharper than Bb, in the middle ages. Then A# became flatter than
Bb, and finally, it became the same. A# flatter than Bb is
characteristic of meantone tuning.