Re: Why are there 7 discrete notes? A possibly stupid question about sound...

From: Gulliver (winnim3_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 06/28/04 

Date: 27 Jun 2004 23:11:23 -0700

I will continue another branch of the thread, to which replies were
given about a month ago, but to which I didn't notice until later.

It is amended to this branch because this one is still new enough to
allow direct replies.

From: crynwulf (lyttlec@earthlink.net)
 Subject: Re: Why are there 7 discrete
 notes? A possibly stupid question about sound...
 Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics.acoustics,
 alt.sci.physics, sci.physics, comp.music
 Date: 2004-05-16 21:16:34 PST

>Gulliver wrote:
>> ...
>> An 'octive' on a piano consists of 7 (not eight - count 'em
ABCDEFG(7)
>> A (the first note in the next 'octive' makes eight)) white keys and
5
>> black keys (12 notes total).
>> ...
>
>You forgot about the "H" note. (Yes, there was an H but it got
replaced by
>G#/Aflat on the tempered scale). The notes were based on ratios of
small
>integers from Greek philosophy. There were notes for going from C1
... C2
>and another set going from C2 ... C1. The tempered scale replsce
these with
>one set that doesn't quiet match either. For example, it replaces
>B1(rising) and B1(lowering) with a sort of not too bad sounding
median tone
>called B. I've been told that American Indians find piano music
terrible
>because they hear the hammers and all the notes are a bit off. On the
other
>hand, their music is so different from ours, we can't even hear it.

From: Eberhard Sengpiel
(esengpiel@t-online.de)
Subject: Re: Why are there 7 discrete notes? A possibly stupid
question about sound...
Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics.acoustics
Date: 2004-05-17 00:04:13 PST

>No, the englisch note B is still called in Germany
>an H and the englisch B flat is called a B.
>The G#/Aflat was never the note H.
>
>Eberhard Sengpiel
>German forum for microphone recordings
>and sound studio techniques
>http://www.sengpielaudio.com

So, on a modern German scale the notes are ABHCDEFG and on the
proposed theoretical one it was ABCDEFGH.

Were there any pianos or harpsichords in the history of their
manufacture, that had 8 white keys and 4 black keys, or even other
configurations, rather than the modern 7 - 5 configuration?

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