Key Matters

[flyfisher]

Has anyone been listening to "Key Matters" on R4 ?

I caught the programme on C#, described as an obscure and rarely used key. Fair enough.

It also talked about it's "flat twin" D-flat. Now, I had always assumed the two notes and scales were the same thing and the programme did indeed confirm that the scale notes are the same.

But, the programme then seemed to suggest they have a completely different mood, based largely on how the notes "fit" in the hand (with reference to the piano) . . . . at which stage it all started to go over my head.

It's on listen again for a few more days if anyone is interested.
[url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tt5j1#synopsis"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tt5j1#synopsis[/url]

[markstuk]

As a fairly decent piano player I think what they're trying to say is that psychological impact of seeing the sharps on the stave is different from seeing flats on the stave. You could notate the same passage in D flat and C sharp - the actual keys you pressed would be the same, but the pianist would approach it in a different frame of mind...

Of course not everyone uses the same tuning for A - we use 440 Hz, some europeans use 444 Hz.

And of course there is the issue of temperament (the gaps between notes in a scale).. Perhaps the start of another thread... :-)

[Bilbo]

I always worry that, when I gig, both of the people in the world who can recognise the difference are going to be in the audience that nght and are going to laugh at me for playing in Gb not F#. Terrifies me.

[mcgraham]

[i]We [/i]heard you from the audience Bilbo. We heard you, trying to play harmonically rich and interesting music, trying to play F# but instead playing Gb... we all heard you... and we all thought you were a barsteward.

Why don't you go home and play some Moondance whilst weeping over a copy of Cantaloupe Island?



[/joke]

[Bilbo]

I am a bad Bilbo and must be punished...

Lock me in a room with Bela Fleck playing Watermelon Man......