blacks???

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

At 08:06 10/02/2001 -0400, you wrote:

>In a message dated 02/10/01 5:26:40 AM, hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu writes:
><< while most typewriter/computer keyboards have a "#" character, it
>really is a chore to find a character for "flat". (I'm not awake enough
>right now to try...)
>  >>
>Conrad sho nuf be a character fer "flat" it done be "-", ya know? Like as in
>A-, as opposing A#,  or as in C major - for a diminutive. :-)
>Jim Bryant (FL)


"-"?

That's a character, fur shur, but not immediately recognized (at least by 
me) as a musical one. The lower case "b" approximation is certainly used, 
as in "Bb".  The normal ascii set has things like ¢ and ƒ, it even has such 
fun things as ¥, £, Ä, ç and Æ. However, outside of special software like 
Finale, etc., finding a real "flat" character is not easy.

A musician seeing "A-" might think of a grade on a theory test before 
ascribing a value of "A-flat".  One might even think that something was 
omitted, as in... that was an A-{what}?

As a recovering music major, I certainly know how to speak in musically 
grammatical terms and do so in certain company (when required).  What we've 
got here is techspeak, a.k.a. jargon.

Things which are sharp generally protrude in some manner, otherwise you 
wouldn't know they were sharp, would you?  It might seem logical then, 
Spock, that those keys which protrude from the FLAT plane of those white 
NATURAL keys would be referred to as SHARPS.  "A-Unnatural" doesn't quite 
have the same ring, does it? (Would that be Aû, Aü, Aù or Aú?)

My 2¼¢.






Conrad Hoffsommer -
I live in my own little world, but it's OK, they know me here.
mailto:hoffsoco@luther.edu