Re: Intervals between various B pitches

[Andrew Bernard]

Can I add a comment to this?

The reason they must be referred to as unisons is because the notes are on the same staff position, and they have the same note name. This distinguishes them from chromatic semitones, or seconds, etc.

I would say that in music theory the B is called the note (I know that 'note' may mean something different in lilypond), the sharps and flats are called accidentals, and in music theory the octave is generally not given.

There's a music theory group over at StackExchange:

https://music.stackexchange.com/

[But you will likely find better experts here!]

This is not entirely academic. Consider the Archicembalo, of which a historical example exists, and there are modern copies. It is a harpsichord designed by Trasuntino for 31 ET, a valid temperament, and it actually had 36 notes per octave. You can hear one here:

https://youtu.be/bhGwjgZ8zIY

So you can actually play these unisons on such an instrument.

Given that this instrument was built in 1555 (!) I would not return a void or null for these intervals in the code, but the actual name. Just my thoughts on this interesting OT topic.

Andrew

On 20 May 2018 at 20:16, Malte Meyn <address@hidden> wrote:

Am 20.05.2018 um 11:45 schrieb Menu Jacques:

Hello folks,

Working on intervals, I bump into this question.

How is the right column below to be filled?

Downward interval between B## and:

        B#:    augmented unison or minor second?
        B:     major second or ...?
        Bb:    minor third or ...?
        Bbb:   major third or ...?

Thanks for your help!

All of these are unisons:

B♯–B♯♯: augmented unison
B–B♯♯: double augmented unison
B♭–B♯♯: triple augmented unison
B♭♭–B♯♯: quadruple augmented unison

A pitch consists of three parts:

1. (I don’t know how it’s called correctly, maybe “diatonic name” or something similar?): The “B” part in “B♯♯”
2. an accidental: the “♯♯”
3. the octave: the “4” in “B♯♯4”