4am wrote:i mean that the range of every instrument and the tonality of the piece played influence the approach you have when you play it. my opinion is that the different feeling perceived is more influenced by this factor, than by the root note.AK wrote:The particular range of some of those instruments are not why the argument exists where different scales convey different moods. This was something Beethoven believed in and Sax and Bass Guitar weren't even invented then. I'm nopt sure what you mean but does the above mean you subscribe to this theory?4am wrote:because every instrument has a different range, the root note of the scale has an impact on the notes that the instrumentalist has at his disposal.
i mean that if, e.g a bass guitar has an E as lower note, and the piece is in Eflat, the bassist will be (unless detuning) able to play the root note only one octave higher -> the finger positions used depend on the tonality.
this has a more noticeable impact when wind instruments (e.g. saxophones) are involved, that's why a lot of jazz music is in Bflat (tenor sax) or Eflat (alto sax).
classic musicians care more about the tonality of the pieces.
bach wrote a piece in every tonality when he developed the tempered scales, but i think it was more intended as a reference to establish this new tuning.
what really determinates the emotion is the color of the harmony (major, minor, diminished etc.).
beethoven is a special case, he had serious hearing problems (at first tinnitus, and later completely deaf), and from the middle of his life on wrote music basing on his internal hearing and memory. i'm not sure he's the best reference for this question, i'm also not sure he isn't...
Yeah I understand what you are saying as far as this goes. I'm not really up on the certain registers of any given instrument etc but essentially, this guy was using Piano as the medium for the tunes played to the students.
Anyway, I did this thing last night where I have some sketch composition ideas on a Yamaha groovebox and I cycled to my favourite ones and transposed them up and down 1, 2, 3, and 4 semitones. I'm disagreeing with the fact that I nearly agreed now, I think it sounds well different to how I heard the tunes as I sketched them out.
So I've come full cycle again and I'm back where I started, I DO think transposition alters the mood of a piece of music. Fck what that John Powell says.