A database of pitch characteristics of musical instruments
This is a little database of the playable ranges of musical
instruments. Also included is the amount of transposition between the
written pitch in clef notation and the actual pitch as-played. By
inference it is possible to determine what clefs are commonly used for
each instrument.
Definition of the fields
-
IN:
-
Name
-
EL:
-
extreme low pitch
-
WL:
-
low pitch
-
WH:
-
high pitch
-
EH:
-
extreme high pitch
-
AS:
-
difference in semitones between the pitch as-written
in clef notation and the actual pitch as-played
-
pl:
-
lowest pitch
-
el:
-
extreme low pitch
-
cl:
-
low pitch
-
ch:
-
high pitch
-
eh:
-
extreme high pitch
-
ph:
-
highest pitch
All pitches are expressed as-written using the ABC notation implied by
the graphics included in the document on proposed
extended clef notation for abc. Some instruments
were historically notated in a different clef with different pitch
offset; this database includes only the modern notation. The
redundant notation about the ranges is a result of combining
information from multiple sources.
Steve Allen <sla@ucolick.org>
1997-12-08