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 -------------------------------------------------- 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 >
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