Quote:
Originally posted by John L
Question: Is an appreciation of the particular "coloration" offered by different keys a pleasure reserved only for those with something approaching perfect pitch?
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Not at all.
The scale-specific coloration and character ended with the tempered scale ("The Well-Tempered Clavier" by Bach in 1722 enshrined equal temperament over natural harmonics).
Here's a succint explanation (
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/referhtml/epi380.html):
"The notes of a tempered scale are just a little off the natural harmonics of vibrating strings. (...)
The good news is that equal temperament lets you transpose freely on a fixed-pitch instrument. If you didn't have it, you'd be able to play a piano accurately in only one key. That's a tradeoff most modern musicians are willing to make."
Previously, keyboard instruments were tuned in such a way that the more sharps and flats a key had, the wierder/more dissonant it sounded, as the instrument was not tuned equally as it is today.
There's a much longer explanation (though it's referred to as "A Short History") on the same site at
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/re...uninghist.html
This short quote from the above-linked article illustrates "coloration":
"Well if we tuned a piano to pure intervals, we'd soon find out that while a C Major 7 chord sounds fine, playing an F# Major 7 would set our teeth on edge - in fact, in a pure temperament tuned on C, a C Major 7 chord would sound much "sweeter" than it would on a modern equally tempered keyboard."
The notes of the F# Major 7 chord are F# A# C# and E# (as you can see, a lot of sharps). That brings to mind another example: E# on the piano is the same key as F, but in "reality" E# is slightly higher than F. More info as to why this is (the Comma) can be found here:
http://www.rdrop.com/users/tblackb/music/temperament/