[pianotech] somewhat OT -- step vs. tone

[Al Guecia/AlliedPianoCraft]

I think I'll save my semi's for colons <G> and stick with steps and tones 
when referring to tuning, scales and music.

Al

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From: "Ron Nossaman" <rnossaman at cox.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 10:00 AM
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Subject: Re: [pianotech] somewhat OT -- step vs. tone

> David Nereson wrote:
>> <<The piano is  a semitone (I dislike "half-step", because it's
>> essentially meaningless) >>
>>
>>    Yes, but in the world of musicians, the terms "whole step," 
>> "half-step," "quarter-step" are used interchangeably with "whole tone," 
>> "half-tone," "quarter-tone."
>
> That's likely my problem with it. I'm a mechanic, not a musician. So 
> musically, is the interval B-C, and E-F also a half step? It doesn't come 
> up much for me with musicians, it's mostly with other techs discussing 
> pitch. A half step low could mean either 50 cents, or 100 cents, depending 
> on the tech, and requires backtracking to clear up. No one seems to be 
> confused by semitone, either customer or tech. Why not just go with cents? 
> Customers don't understand cents.
>
> The ideal is, for me at least, to find some simple nearly universally 
> accepted and reasonably meaningful nomenclature that imparts information 
> with as little wasted time, discussion, and unnecessary esoterica as 
> possible.
> Ron N
>