[Bell Historians] Pitches of bells

[Andrew Higson]

That's all wrong!

Ever tried playing anything in G flat? As a key signature it is somewhere 
you only get by transposition during a piece from, er, er, well another key 
anyway.

C, D, E, F, G, A and B are fine

C# and D flat - either way 7#s or 5 flats

E flat is fine D# messy 3 flats and loads of sharps

F# fine G flat very messy 6 sharps and ...

A flat is fine G# is messy 4 flats and 7 sharps

B flat is fine A# is messy 2 flats and lots of sharps

Well in my opinion anyway. Musicians would in general try to put the key in 
the fewest accidentals and where we have a fixed pitch instrument that 
doesn't change key, stick with what is simplest.

It might be that the note of the tenor was considered out of context in 
which case G flat is still odd.

I have always categorised a note from -50 cents through to +50 cents by the 
same name, in this case F#. Sorry, Dickon, but changing half way through 
doesn't work for me!

Andrew

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dickon Love" <dickon.love at ...>
To: <bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 11:10 AM
Subject: [Bell Historians] Pitches of bells


> Apologies for returning to the old subject of when F sharp is or
> isn't G flat. I notice that Brasted bells went into the Whitechapel
> Bell Foundry quoted as F sharp and returned quoted as G flat. (I
> don't yet know the tenor nominal.)
>
> Having thought about this for a while, I am going to be implementing
> the following convention for my websites on Kent, London and
> Westminster:
>
> Anything between F and F+50 will be classed as F.
> Anything between F+50 and F# will be classed as F#.
> Anything between F# and F#+50 will be classed as Gb.
> Anything between F#+50 and G will be classed as G.
> I will not be using the notes B#, E#, Fb or Cb in my nomenclature,
> nor any double sharps or double flats.
>
> As for any notes on the cusp, hmmm, I'll take into account the rest
> of the scale.
>
> DrL
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