Re: Accidentals: Unwanted naturals

[Graham Percival]

On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 12:01:05PM -0700, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:
> > If the above seems confusing, consider this: if you were
> > playing a
> > piano, which key would you hit? If you would press a black
> > key,
> > then you must add -is or -es to the note name!
> 
> The hint at the end about black keys doesn't work for b- and e-sharp, nor 
> c- and f-flat, nor double-sharps and flats.

Yes, but most novices with no knowledge of lilypond or music
theory won't be writing in 5 sharps or flats, double-sharps or
flats, or b/c e/f sharp/flats.


> What about something like this:

> If the above seems confusing, imagine someone asks you for the first 
> four notes of Beethoven's fifth.  If you say, "g, g, g, e-flat," you 
> are correct.  However, if you say "g, g, g, e," you are wrong and 
> will be corrected by any theory teacher within a fifty-foot radius as 
> follows: 
> "That's an e-flat, not an e.  Have a look at the key signature."
>
> Unlike the theory teacher above, Lilypond doesn't know the answers ahead 
> of time and assumes you know what you're doing.  The way you say 
> note-names out loud at sounding pitch corresponds directly to the 
> way you enter pitches into a Lilypond score. That means no matter what key 
> signature you put in front of it, Beethoven's fifth always starts with 
> g g g ees when input into a Lilypond score.

Too verbose.  It also relies on knowledge of Beethoven's fifth
[symphony].  Do people in China know classical Western music that
well?  What about a banjo players who's only done fiddle tunes?

It's true that the piano example won't be understood by somebody
who's never seen a piano before, but at a certain point there's
nothing we can do other than pointing people at a music theory
website or whatever.

Cheers,
- Graham