who knows 6?

[LashSlash]

what tuning-fork gives the highest note.... whats the name of the note? are there tuning-forks that give a 'sharp' note -- like g-sharp or f-sharp? [if i can include the word' sharp', it will add to the 'feel' of a high note].... is there a tuning-fork that will give a note the human ear cant hear? [ :odunno  what purpose that would serve ]  but can be heard by an animal -- a dog specificaly?

[marc_chagall]

The commonest pitches for tuning forks are A and C, but you can get them at any pitch. I used to keep an A 440 one for checking my violin tuning, but after a few years of doing that I realised it was pointless as I have perfect pitch, and anyway, A 440 is a bit flat (some orchestras play as high as A 448, so I always ask my piano tuner to go for around A 444, as a nice compromise).

You can extrapolate higher pitches by simply jumping up the harmonic series a few octaves, so no point in having teensy-weensy little tuning forks that only your dog could hear.

If you're writing a story that requires a 'sharp' tuning fork, then that's fine. Just don't go for E sharp or B sharp unless you want any musicians out there to smirk knowingly. Those notes are used in diatonic harmony, of course, in which case the tuning would be slightly different, but for the purposes of tuning forks you'd compromise and call them F or C.

[LashSlash]

thanks delf. it is for a story in my doktoressa diaries series.... i'll run the pertinant para past you when its a bit better tuned.... 

[delboy]

I'm envious of Delph's perfect pitch. Had a piano player in my band once with perfect pitch and it was amazing to hear and watch him figure stuff out. He could hear something once and, give or take a few fancy bits, be able to play it back.

Derek

[marc_chagall]

The problem with perfect pitch is if you have to play a baroque oratorio in a church with an old organ that's not been tuned for a couple of hundred years or so and is playing a good semitone below pitch, the whole orchestra has to tune down. The wind and brass weep but try their best (with dismal results). The strings are usually fine UNLESS they've got perfect pitch, in which case they're effectively transposing every note by a semi-tone. Took me a while to get used to doing this. I was fine if I was playing on my baroque violin (or a viola da gamba) but playing modern violin at the 'wrong' pitch is a nightmare. The instrument doesn't like it, quite apart from any other considerations, and won't stay in tune at all.

Perfect pitch can be learned. When I started at music college I didn't have it. After a few months I did, because every day started with an 'aurals' session in which the professor would ask the group (about a dozen of us) to sing an 'A' when we came in. At first, it was pretty random. After a while, we simply started remembering what A sounded like.

[Ed]

My youngest has been told he has perfect pitch. I'm currently in the process of trying to find him a new piano teacher, because the old one hasn't turned up for the past three weeks, and has always been less than reliable. I'm just hoping he likes the cheaper one of the two I have lined up for him to try out. One is £12 for half an hour, pay as you go, the other is £14 per half hour and wants it in blocks of ten, in advance, of course. Ouch

[marc_chagall]

I'm cheaper than either, but you'd have to come to me. Might cost a bit in petrol...

[LashSlash]

you can get  piano lessons on youtube --  for free. 

[marc_chagall]

That's like learning to draw by telephone. 

[delboy]

I took jazz guitar lesson online for a year. It was a tremendously productive experience and I learned stuff that I'd have otherwise struggled with for years. It was cheap (total cost for the year was about $160 and the teacher was Jimmy Bruno - one of the finest jazz guitar players in the world. One of the finest teachers, too. Could have found a teacher locally, but nobody in the same big league as Jimmy.

That said, I needed many years of playing experience behind me to be able to benefit from the stuff Jimmy was teaching. But there's definitely mileage in online learning at the right moment in one's education.

Derek

[Ed]

We're in your neck of the woods in a couple of week's time, Delph, so the first lesson wouldn't be too bad, but thereafter I think the traveling would probably get a bit much

Why-aye, man, yahnoo. Visitin me nanna in Shields, like

[leatherdykeuk]

Why-aye, man, yahnoo. Visitin me nanna in Shields, like

My mother was from Benwell

[LashSlash]

here it is -- http://www.cafedoom.com/forum/index.php?topic=4119.0

the title was 'specialy for delf