
Whale Songs Have Dropped the Equivalent Of 3 White Keys on a Piano In 50 Years - ilamont
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/10/whale-songs-are-getting-deeper/596635/
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ksaj
Which 3 white keys? There is a half-step difference between C through E, and D
through F, even though both are 3 white key distances. The half step from B to
C and E to F ensures that "3 white keys" can not be represented as a single
distance.

A half step of a single note (specifically, the 3rd white key spoken of in
this keyboard analogy) is all it takes to turn a major chord or scale into a
minor one, so it isn't insignificant.

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eesmith
The article links that "white key" description to [https://www.int-
res.com/articles/esr2009/9/n009p013.pdf](https://www.int-
res.com/articles/esr2009/9/n009p013.pdf) which describes it as 31%.

Figuring C-F as 2 __(5 /12) = 1.33 .

Figuring F-B as 2 __(5 /12) = 1.42 .

So, most likely C-F.

~~~
ksaj
The fact is, the difference in the that third being natural or flat is the
single only difference between a major and minor key. That's a huge
difference. Wouldn't it make sense to just say Major or Minor Third instead of
introducing this rather severe ambiguity?

The numbers (cents) are irrelevant because people don't listen to sounds in a
way that makes them cognizant of those divisions. And the numerically small
differences are huge in musical context. It's why Eastern musicians find
Western music to be robotic and perpetually out of tune, and why Westerners
find Eastern music to sound almost enigmatic. Small differences, amounting to
a huge difference in meaning.

Saying "3 white keys" is pretty vague, versus getting right to the point and
saying "a major third" or "a minor third."

They are both 3 white keys, and they are NOT the same distance. Sonically they
sound happy and sad - they are not alike. That tiny number difference is a
huge sonic difference. And "3 white keys" definitely is less clear than "major
third" or "minor third" since that's actually what we're talking about here.

The fact that you had to say "most likely" strongly suggests that simply
saying "major" or "minor" third would have been the right course of action
here, because even you admit to not knowing which one it is.

Or they could have said "2 whole steps" which explicitly points out that it's
the further distance (not being one and a half steps, and all). So many ways
to not be cryptic about this.

~~~
eesmith
"Wouldn't it make sense to just say Major or Minor Third instead of
introducing this rather severe ambiguity?"

Yes. Absolutely. Or just say 31%, rather than a half-assed analogy that is
more misunderstood than anything. Even "1/3rd of an octave" would be better.

But I was addressing your question of "which".

