[Dixielandjazz] Keys?

[Cees van den Heuvel]

In the seventies I played with a lot of the American giants in a jazz
club in Scheveningen (try to pronounce that!) . We were trying
to play all titles in the so called original keys. I will always remember
a quote by Wild Bil Davison. "F,,," the original keys, play it in the key
that you can play your heart out!" It's not the key, it's the music that 
counts!

Cees van den Heuvel
http://www.revivaljassband.nl


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Gunter" <jazzboard at hotmail.com>
To: <mike at railroadstjazzwest.com>; <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 2:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Keys?


> Hello troops,
>
> Mike wrote (regarding keys):
>
>>I like the timbre of the sharp keys.
>
> I've heard of this notion before but I never have quite understood it.
>
> As I understand it, timbre (pronounced "TAM brughhh" or TOM brugghhh" or
> maybe "TOM burr" of something in an unpronouncable French accent) has
> nothing to do with the pitch or volume of a note, but rather it's "color" 
> or
> tone quality.
>
> Are there those among you who can distinguish the difference in "tone 
> color"
> between, say, E and F?  Does a piano solo played in the key of E (4 
> sharps)
> sound (color wise) different than the same piano solo played in F (1 
> flat)?
>
> I'm not saying that such things as "tone color" don't exist. For example I
> can certainly tell the difference between an oboe playing A and a trumpet
> playing A. That, to me, is what I would recognize as distinctive timbres.
> But if I hear an oboe playing a tonic scale in E and then repeating the 
> same
> thing in F . . . to tell you the truth I can hear no significant 
> difference
> in tone color. It still sounds like a freakin' oboe.
>
> Oh sure . . . I can tell the F scale is a half step HIGHER (not LOWER) 
> than
> the E scale when rendered on an oboe - but that's a difference in pitch. 
> To
> me, the tone color is the same.
>
> Please tell me what I'm missing here.
>
> Respectfully requested,
>
> Bill "tin ear" Gunter
> jazzboard at hotmail.com
>
>
>
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