Violinists, trombone players, singers & other instrumentalists with adjustable pitches _do_ make these adjustments all the time to fit the music and especially the key. In particular, when I was taught violin in high school, I was taught to rarely use "open strings" (i.e., without fingering), because these notes could not be adjusted. Except for the lowest ("G") string, one can always use a finger on a lower string to equal the other open strings ("D", "A", "E"), and thus always have dynamically adjustable tuning. Even on supposedly fixed tuned instruments such as the trumpet, there are usually levers on both the 1st and the 3rd valves of concert trumpets which enable the fine tuning of most notes. At 02:30 PM 12/3/2014, Dan Asimov wrote:
I had the same idea -- a piano that's always in tune by flatting or sharping each individual note by whatever optimizes the harmony at a given moment.
Of course, this would be a lot easier for an electronic piano than for a mechanical one. But I'd really like to see this for a mechanical one.
--Dan
On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 11:37 AM, Michael Beeler <mikebeeler@verizon.net> wrote:
Taking that further, perhaps there is a sounding-good function that gives the best frequency perturbations for all of the notes sounding at a given moment.