Questions about F#

[Bloomfield]

Bloom
I'm pretty sure that I hear a Fnat in Flogging but then again I was wrong once before. Perhaps I hear neither Fnat or F#? The bar rises yet again.

That's what I am hinting at. There is a sort-of-inbetween pitch (sometimes referred to as f-neutral or c-neutral) that of course the fixed pitch instruments like concertina can't do. But really, that stuff is waaaaayyy over my head. StevieJ and Peter Laban can speak competently on that. (It's an ITM thing. So don't try this in The Man From La Mancha or the theme song from La Boom or The Yellow Rose Of Texas, Cranberry.)

[Flyingcursor]

I believe it may have happened last night while I played St. Anne's Reel.
A sort of G-neutral. Hmmm. I will replay it slowly in my mind.

[Wombat]

Bloom
I'm pretty sure that I hear a Fnat in Flogging but then again I was wrong once before. Perhaps I hear neither Fnat or F#? The bar rises yet again.

That's what I am hinting at. There is a sort-of-inbetween pitch (sometimes referred to as f-neutral or c-neutral) that of course the fixed pitch instruments like concertina can't do. But really, that stuff is waaaaayyy over my head. StevieJ and Peter Laban can speak competently on that. (It's an ITM thing. So don't try this in The Man From La Mancha or the theme song from La Boom or The Yellow Rose Of Texas, Cranberry.)

I don't know whether or not you're joking here Bloomy—do you?—but there's nothing especially unusual or difficult about the idea of a note neutral between a natural or a sharp. It occurs commonly in the blues where thirds and sevenths especially are often played somewhere between the major and minor. Just where in between depends on taste, the 'feel' of the tune at that place and the precise effect desired by the player. In blues and in ITM the 'neutral' note might be slurred or bent anyway so of no fixed pitch.

[Bloomfield]

Wombat,
I think I understand the theory of it. And I even have a sense for how it's used especially on the pipes to create that mournful sound (or as some of my friends would say, stepped-on-cat effect). But I haven't spent much time listening for it, and I can't do it myself. So, apart from the fact that it exists, I'm really not in a positoin to comment. (Fancy that. )

[SteveK]

there's nothing especially unusual or difficult about the idea of a note neutral between a natural or a sharp. It occurs commonly in the blues where thirds and sevenths especially are often played somewhere between the major and minor. Just where in between depends on taste, the 'feel' of the tune at that place and the precise effect desired by the player. In blues and in ITM the 'neutral' note might be slurred or bent anyway so of no fixed pitch.

Also in old time music. This is why some 5-string banjo players prefer fretless banjos-to get the in-between note and the little slides. The note in question is most often the thrid of the key of the tune.

Steve

[Wombat]

Wombat,
I think I understand the theory of it. And I even have a sense for how it's used especially on the pipes to create that mournful sound (or as some of my friends would say, stepped-on-cat effect). But I haven't spent much time listening for it, and I can't do it myself. So, apart from the fact that it exists, I'm really not in a positoin to comment. (Fancy that. )

Think of those times you tried to half-hole C natural and hit it a bit sharp. Come on now, it must have happened at least once. Right, now teach yourself to do that deliberately.