h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sure, that's OK. I would like to mention that it is 52 notes to the octave, very much smaller than semitones; is that a good or bad idea? Too much information, maybe.

In post 6 I had suggested

gets to his feet > stands up purposefully

but it must have slipped through unnoticed.

By the way, have you resolved Gnomon's doubt about the difficulty of deriving 439Hz from a crystal?

When I originally read post #6, I saw that first line as a stage instruction rather than as a change, ie *gets to his feet > stands up purposefully*

52 notes to the octave? If you think that's necessary.

After I'd added the final footnote describing the steps by which 440Hz can be derived from 1MHz, there was no further comment from Gnomon.

Still working through this. I am unsure of 'improvements to the strings of stringed instruments enabling them to be more tightly stretched'.

Strings could always be more tightly stretched. What are you referring to?

Not entirely certain now what was in my mind at the time, but probably to do with improved (more reproducible) production techniques for gut strings, better polishing, use of different metals for windings, the move away from a gut E-string to a steel one for violins, things like that.

I fear we may be guessing here, so I would recommend omitting the passage. All I find on a quick google is http://www.damianstrings.com/sh-faq.shtml which says that the move to metal E strings on violins occurred in the last decade of the 19th century, and that gut string manufacture was at its apex in the 17th century, only to be equalled (if that) in recent years.

Fair enough

It seems we have to cut the whole paragraph, because what remains contains a contradiction: high notes vanish over distance, so for larger halls they made them ... higher.

I'm also inclined to remove the second 'ipso facto'. Would 'In England, the paragon of musical practice was the Philharmonic Society. ' do the job?

I don't think the reign of Sir Michael Costa needs quotes round the 'reign'. These always look a little coy to me

I've gone through the rest and made some more minor snips and shuffles. What do you think?

Weird. I changed the last two hyphens to n-dashes and they still look like hyphens.

I'll have a read tomorrow, but I don't think the whole paragraph should be dropped. Regardless of strings, the building or use of large auditoria was definitely a significant driver in the upward trend of pitch in the 19C.

Regarding Costa, he really was an autocratic tyrant who brooked no argument, so his period as conductor of the Philharmonic Society was very much dictatorial. His opinion was law.

Hmm, sounds like a conductor all right.

I don't really buy the large-halls argument. Have you been to St Mark's in Venice?

I have changed the first ipso facto to de facto, in the belief that that is what you mean. I have changed the second to say that the Philharmonic Society was the bell-wether of musical practice. You may prefer 'the arbiter' or 'the leading light' or some other.

ipso facto --> de facto

bell-wether of musical practice

<>
Indeed I have, but the sound field of choirs and brass as used in that highly resonant acoustic by the likes of Gabrielli and Monteverdi is not comparable with that of a strings-dominated orchestra in a concert hall.

I'm sorry you disagree with me that larger halls was one of the (many) drivers in raising pitch during the 19C. The bare statement <> begs the question why? There is now nothing left in the Entry to answer that question.

No matter, I can address the point later in more detail in a book I'm writing on Music in 19th Century London, for which these Entries are essentially research notes.

Ah. There is no doubt that pitch creeps higher, just as tempo creeps slower, with time, unless regulated. The tempo fact is shown by the constant invention of shorter note-values ('breve' meaning short). However, the argument that the large halls pushed pitch up is countered by the fact that higher notes carry worse, not better. What drives pitch up (we've had this conversation already, haven't we?) is competition for 'brightness', if one instrumental section believes they will stand out better when playing sharper than the others. A plague on all their houses. Begging the question is another matter http://www.h2g2.com/approved_entry/A688287/conversation/view/F83238/T168355

Darn it, that link isn't linking. The reference is to the conversation titled 'Begging the Question' under A688287

Sorry, that was beside the point.

The point is, I don't think you are required to explain what drove the pitch up. It's perfectly acceptable as one of those trends that just happen. Evolution is full of arms races of one kind and another.

How close are you to being happy with the current version A87766753 ?

I am still bothered about one thing (otherwise, in case I didn't say so before, I think this is a terrific Entry) and that is the part about strings going flat in heat. This is true of gut strings and plain metal strings, but is it true of wound strings? The problem playing continuo in a changing temperature is that the harpsichord goes sharp just when the bass viol goes flat. I think that when the metal windings on gut or silk strings expand they have the effect of increasing the tension (or perhaps stiffness) of the string, rather than decreasing it, and raising the pitch.

Sorry I've been busy on other things today.

<>

I think this might be the key to our difference of opinion. Let me try this on you:
At any given frequency, the amplitude as measured by a suitable meter at position X decreases by some non-linear function of the distance from the source, however this function is not the same for all frequencies. The decrease in amplitude is greater for higher frequencies than for lower ones. Add to that the complication that the human ear is not like a meter; it also acts in a non-linear fashion.

So rather than being countered as you say, I'm arguing that it acts in the same direction. *All* other things being equal, a listener in a large hall will perceive an orchestra as being less bright than it would seem in a smaller chamber music room.

However, moving on...

You may well be right about wound strings behaving differently from unwound ones. I must admit I was thinking of simple strings, whether of steel or gut, expanding in the warmer environment.

Let's leave the Entry as it is now. I can live with it.

Cheers Andrew