The two and four cents

Dear friends,
Graham Breed, Daniel Forro, djwolf_frankfurt, to the tuning list:

I reread the message I sent to tuning and assert that my only intention for sending the message was to get information on the approximate lowest number of cents that can be distinguished by ear when two note frequencies given by two piano keys are played. This information would decide to set aside one scale designed years ago and besides that, to demonstrate to a tuning man this truth and terminate with this matter. I know that these kinds of data sound uncommon, it was written by an old man. I thought that the tuning list could provide this information.

After reading my message to find out any improper word or phrase that inadvertently I might have written there, I concluded that there is no any improper word in that message and this can be confirmed by the tuning yahoo group administration.

The same day (08/20), Mr Ozan Yarman sent me a note where my surname and the name of the Piagui scale were distorted; one of his negative terms was ¿What is this Paigui?. He also wrote that I am a constant manipulator of the Piagui scale and other inadmissible concepts. That was the price I had to pay for asking information.

I responded to Mr. Yarman and expressed my claim for the distorted names he used in his mail. I also reread my message and obviously didn't find any improper term. Regarding the verb "to ignore", it was not used against Mr. Yarman. Since he wrote wrong features of the Piagui intonation and at the same time he said that he never paid attention to this scale or a similar expression, I wrote in my message that somebody needs to advise him not to talk on subjects he ignore.

Mr. Yarman sent me another massage presenting his explanations regarding the improper words he used in his first message, despite that I am not made of stone, I am satisfied with his explanations which resemble some kind of apology.

I do not have the Mr. Yarman address to sent him my sincere salute.

Thanks

Mario Pizarro

piagui@...

Lima, August 21, 2009

Hi Mario,

Do not worry. We are all learning.

> I reread the message I sent to tuning and assert that my only
> intention for sending the message was to get information on
> the approximate lowest number of cents that can be distinguished
> by ear when two note frequencies given by two piano keys are
> played.

This simple question is remarkably hard to answer. The
minimum interval that may be distinguished depends upon the
listener (the health of his or her hearing), the duration
and volume of the tones to be examined, the pitch level of
the tones, and whether the tones are presented simultaneously
or sequentially.

In tuning the unison strings of each piano key, through the
middle three octaves of the keyboard on a good instrument,
it is usually possible for an expert to adjust each string
to the nearest 0.1 cents, though this can be a time-consuming
process. Substantially less accuracy is obtained in the
lower registers (due to the poorer pitch resolution of the
ear) and higher registers (due to the much greater and
sometimes nonlinear response of the strings to tension on
their tuning pins).

In musical listening circumstances, differences as small as
one cent may be distinguished by the acute ear.

Most listeners -- average people at a piano concert -- do not
notice the difference between a historical well temperament
and equal temperament, where deviations may be as great as
10 cents (though such deviations exist only in memory in this
case, since a piano is only in one tuning or the other at
a time).

Does this answer your question?

> I do not have the Mr. Yarman address to sent him my sincere
> salute.

If you are on the website

/tuning/messages/

simply view any message and choose the "Send Email" link on
the right to send a note privately to the author of the
message.

-Carl