PERFECT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Sir.-Your cotrespondent " Hearing" asks "whether the difference of 7 cycles per second between G sharp and A flat can be detected by the human ear?" Let him ask a violinist to play the interval C to A flat, and another to follow immediately with C to G sharp; the difference will be apparent to any moderately trained ear. Aural perception, in its finer sense, is largely a matter of imagination. A pianist modulating between the keys A flat and A sharp would, in striking the leading note of the new key give it an apparently sharper sound than the tonic of the old key, thus appearing to increase the frequency by the desired 7 cycles! In point of fact, the only perfect (orthodox) musical instrument is the slide trombone, which can be played in absolute tune throughout the length of its compass. This cannot be said of stringed instruments, as the open note o> the lowest string obviously cannot be flattened by shifting the position of the
finger, whereas the fortunate trombonist who could produce his fundamental note at will could control its pitch with ease.
BANDMASTER
(Auckland).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 173, 16 October 1942, Page 3
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191PERFECT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 173, 16 October 1942, Page 3
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