I’m sure this has been asked before, but I couldn’t find anything online. Are there notes in-between the piano keys? And if so, why are they never used? Do they sound terrible? I’d love it if someone could clear it up. Thanks!
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The notes that we have on the piano are mathematically related and we have become accustomed to their harmonies (which are also mathematically related).
Yes, there are notes between the half-steps of a piano. We’re not used to how they sound with the half-step notes of the piano.
I believe they’re called microtonal notes and they aren’t used much because they sound very dissonant (out-of-tune) in basically any context.
No. There are no notes in between the piano keys, because the piano keys *are* the notes (sort of).
Now, if you asked “are there *tones* between the tones produced by the piano keys,” of course there are. They’re just less easy to create, and therefore less commonly used.
I wrote some of this for a friend a few months ago. It explains the mathematical relationships between some of the notes.
This page is a table of the frequencies of the notes as a piano is laid out.
http://pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html
The note A4 (440 Hz) is the standard, kind of like 0° F or 0° C is a standard. It’s convenient to count from somewhere, and A4 (440Hz) is where musicians count from.
Here’s the interesting thing:
If you double 440 you get 880.
A4 is 440Hz. Double that is A5 (880), which is the same pitch, but one octave higher.
A5:A4::2:1
(does that make sense? A5 is to A4 as 2 is to 1?)
If you picture a line from point Y to point Z, you could represent A4 as a single hill, and you could represent A5 as a hill that goes exactly halfway from Y to Z, and a mirror-image valley that goes the rest of the way from Y to Z. A full sine wave. The A5 hill is exactly half the length of the A4 hill. The A5 hill is a 1/2 ratio to the A4 hill.
**Here’s the next interesting thing:**
Simple adjacent ratios produce other pleasing note combinations.
Here are the first few simple adjacent ratios:
2:1
3:2
4:3
5:4
6:5
These ratios form the basis of music theory.
2:1 is called an octave. A5:A4, for example. 880:440
3:2 is called a perfect fifth. E5:A4. 660:440
4:3 is called a perfect fourth. D5:A4. 586.66:440
5:4 is a major third. C#5:A4. 550:440
and 6:5 is a minor third. C5:A4. 528:440
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_(music)
Western music uses a 12-tone equal temperament system. That means that there are 12 equally-spaced notes to each octave.
The reason this works so well is that humans find simple ratios between 2 notes as more pleasing and consonant if their frequencies are related by simple ratios. For example, an A at 440hz and an E at 660hz give a 3:2 ratio, which we perceive as a perfect fifth. 12-TET happens to give us really good approximations for these ratios, such as 4:3, 5:4, 6:5, and these intervals are what Western music is rooted in.
But you don’t need to pick 12! Why not 19? Or 22? 24? These equal temperament systems also have good approximations for simple ratios. But you also get tons of new, foreign ratios that 12-TET can’t do.
Does it sound bad? Well, go you YouTube and have a listen! They will sound consonant but very alien. Whether you like that feel is a matter of personal opinion.
Tldr – Yes, there are infinite notes between the 12 we use. They can sound good if you divide the octave with consonance in mind.
Edit: At least 1 form of Western music uses one of these in-between notes! Barbershop singing. One also shows up in ‘Happy Birthday to You”, in the ‘many many more’ part at the end (on more).
Charles Ives made quarter note pianos with the “notes” in between the usual keys. It’s pretty interesting stuff!
The video features a video of said piano
Yes. And no. And yes.
There are an infinite number of frequencies between any two notes, but Western music is based on the piano keys, and to it anything in between is not considered a note. There are other musical traditions that use more notes, like the Arab Tone System that includes the frequencies halfway between the piano keys.
Also, since the precise pitch is arbitrary, you could tune a piano to have all of its notes halfway between the standard ones, and it would sound perfectly fine to most people.
I would like to take a different approach to this answer.
Microtonal sounds (outside of the traditional 11 notes you get before an octave repeats) have been around for a long time. Piano, as an instrument is not designed to be microtonal. However, some folks have created ways of “bending” notes on a piano to achieve microtonal colors.
As far as the “weirdness” or “dissonance”, you’ve been hearing it your whole life. Turkish music, Indian music, Native American singing, music of the Far East. Heck, find a group of excellent horn players and they will show you how they have to adjust some notes to get them to be “in tune with the chord”.
But piano was designed to provide a specific kind of sound and it’s harder to deviate than other stringed instruments.
In harmony and melody, it’s all about color and a tension and (maybe) release. Microtones take a 12 bit set up and make it potentially infinite. Approach with an open set of ears and a desire for new flavor.
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