Okay, for some reason, the concept of having a concert pitch seems to bother me. Now, I know that different instruments have different keys, and thus there is a need to establish a common ground via concert pitch, but...
(Just as a quick definition in case you are not familiar with concert pitch, it's basically a way of determining ABSOLUTELY what pitch a note is, since different instruments have different note names for the same "sound")
...I was just wondering what was the problem with doing it this way:
Now, let's use the alto saxophone as an example. It's in the key of E-flat, (quick definition: meaning the note C on a piano sounds the same as an E-flat on the alto sax). Now, when you learn the instrument, they tell you that three fingers down on the left hand produces the G on the sax (this is the same as B-flat on the piano, or concert pitch). Now, why can't they just tell you that "three fingers down" is in fact, B-flat? Even though we know it as "G", if they just said it was "B-flat", couldn't we avoid the whole hassle of transposing notes?
I'm just throwing this idea out there because I can =P
But basically the gist of my argument is: do we really need arbitrary different keys for different instruments? If we simply called the G on the alto sax a B-flat, then wouldn't we not need to transpose?
Anybody else ever give this any thought?
(Just as a quick definition in case you are not familiar with concert pitch, it's basically a way of determining ABSOLUTELY what pitch a note is, since different instruments have different note names for the same "sound")
...I was just wondering what was the problem with doing it this way:
Now, let's use the alto saxophone as an example. It's in the key of E-flat, (quick definition: meaning the note C on a piano sounds the same as an E-flat on the alto sax). Now, when you learn the instrument, they tell you that three fingers down on the left hand produces the G on the sax (this is the same as B-flat on the piano, or concert pitch). Now, why can't they just tell you that "three fingers down" is in fact, B-flat? Even though we know it as "G", if they just said it was "B-flat", couldn't we avoid the whole hassle of transposing notes?
I'm just throwing this idea out there because I can =P
But basically the gist of my argument is: do we really need arbitrary different keys for different instruments? If we simply called the G on the alto sax a B-flat, then wouldn't we not need to transpose?
Anybody else ever give this any thought?
