You can’t tune a piano, but you can tunafish! – or – Why does the piano sound different than me singing Barbershop music?

1. Just Intonation vs. Equal Temperament

• Barbershop Tuning (Just Intonation): Barbershop harmony relies on just intonation, where each chord is tuned to maximize the harmonic “ringing” effect. Just intonation aligns pitches so that they are mathematically related, producing pure intervals where the harmonic overtones align perfectly. This results in a warm, resonant sound that is often described as “locked and ringing.”

• Piano Tuning (Equal Temperament): Pianos are tuned to equal temperament, where each semitone is spaced equally across the scale. This is essential for a fixed-pitch instrument like a piano that needs to play in multiple keys without retuning. However, equal temperament slightly compromises the purity of some intervals to enable key flexibility, resulting in less “ringing” compared to just intonation.

2. Chord Emphasis

• Barbershop Tuning: Barbershop arrangements focus on specific chord types (particularly major triads and dominant 7th chords) that produce optimal overtone-rich, resonant sounds. Singers make subtle adjustments to pitch to ensure perfect tuning within these chords.

• Piano Tuning: Since a piano uses equal temperament, it doesn’t adjust pitch based on chord context. All intervals are set in advance, so the instrument cannot adapt its tuning to optimize specific chords for maximum resonance.

3. Flexibility and Real-Time Tuning

• Barbershop Singers: In barbershop, singers constantly adjust pitches by ear to achieve harmony that is perfectly aligned with the group’s sound. This “real-time tuning” is part of why barbershop sounds so unique.

• Piano Tuners: Piano tuning is fixed and does not change once set. Pianos need to maintain consistent pitch across all keys, so once the equal temperament is achieved, adjustments are no longer made.

Summary

The main difference is that barbershop tuning prioritizes perfect harmonic alignment for resonance (just intonation), while piano tuning prioritizes flexibility across keys (equal temperament). This results in a distinct sound and tuning approach for each style.

 

Me: What are hertz?

Chat GPT:  Hertz (Hz) is a unit of frequency that measures how many cycles or vibrations occur in one second. Named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz, it’s used to describe the frequency of sound waves, radio waves, and other types of periodic events.

For example:

• If a sound wave has a frequency of 440 Hz, it means the wave vibrates 440 times per second. This is often used to tune musical instruments, as A above middle C is standardized to 440 Hz.

• In terms of electricity, a frequency of 60 Hz means the electrical current alternates 60 times per second, which is standard in the U.S.

In music, the concept of hertz helps us understand pitch: a higher hertz value corresponds to a higher pitch, while a lower hertz value corresponds to a lower pitch.

Me: Show the difference between the frequency of a middle C and an A (440) in a graph

Chat GTP: