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Seeing the request for an audio file here, I thought I might be able to make one with Scala. A quick attempt seems to have worked. Scala makes MIDI files, so I'm not sure it would work correctly on various computers, so I thought I'd ask before I added it to the article. I know it could sound better, but it is just demonstrating the sound of the diesis comma. I just wonder if people think something like this would be useful for this page, and other pages on commas.
I uploaded the file to the Commons, , or just http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Diesis-example.mid
Description of what the does: It first plays an octave (2:1), C3 to C4; then, starting from the same C3 pitch, it plays a justly tuned major third (5:4), then another, then another (ie, C, E, G#, B#). Then it plays the 2:1 octave C4 again, followed by the 125:64 B#, followed by both at once. The difference between the C and the B#, 128:125 is the diesis comma. In equal temperament, on a piano for example, B# is the same as C, and three major thirds in a row equal an octave. But three justly-tuned major thirds fall quite a bit flat of an octave. Does this file help understanding that?
I think I will post this question elsewhere too, where someone might actually see it! Reactions? Pfly 08:51, 16 November 2007 (UTC)
Going up by 3 major thirds from C, steps to E, G#, and B#. So indeed the defect from B# to C(8va) is rightfully a diminished second. However the picture shows Dbb to C. This notation is inconsistent with the explanation. This is also a diminished second, but the wrong one. − Woodstone ( talk) 13:04, 8 August 2010 (UTC)
Are you sure that the word "Diesis" is (or was) not also, sometimes, used as a synonym of "Diese" or sharp? Here's the rationale for my question.
In English:
Compare this with Italian, a language which was a reference in the past, even for English musicians. In Italian:
(I am not sure about the name they give to the diesis comma in Italian.)
Also, and perhaps more importantly, the etymology of the word diesis is consistent with the definition of the sharp accident. Namely, in Greek diesis means "escape", and this refers to the technique of playing the aulos, where pitch is raised (i.e. sharpened!) a small amount by slightly raising the finger on the lowest closed hole, letting a small amount of air "escape"...
− Paolo.dL ( talk) 13:12, 8 August 2010 (UTC)
While the theory is important to some, to those who play there is no difference between C natural and B sharp, and a sentence such as "This means that, for instance, C' is sharper than B♯..." is utterly meaningless. There's no difference on a piano, for instance, and although you may be able to play the difference on a violin, there would never be an instruction in music to do so (I hope). I enjoy reading wikipedia's music articles but many of them are simply too abstract to mean anything to the reader. I therefore would like to commend Paolo for raising that issue -- and I think I have actually heard the word used that way, but not in the way this article defines it. 24.27.31.170 ( talk) 03:24, 15 February 2012 (UTC) Eric
I double-checked the table on page 26 in Rameau's Treatise on Harmony and determined that, based on the 15552:15625 product as well as the omission of 148 in five-limit tuning, the ratio "125:148" is a typo for "125:128", hence my insertion of the sic note in the text. -- Glenn L ( talk) 09:34, 29 April 2014 (UTC)
Rameau did define 128/125 as the small diesis in 1722, as stated above, but in 1726 (Nouveau systeme) he named this interval the great diesis, and 648/625 the least semitone, as he did in 1722 as well, and as did Mersenne before and Sauveur after. Alexander Ellis also called 128/125 the great diesis (c. 1885). I wonder who changed the terminology. The earliest use of the modern nomenclature that I have been able to find is in the Harvard Dictionary of Music (W Apel), 1944. 129.100.58.76 ( talk) 21:26, 22 June 2015 (UTC)R. carl s R. carl s ( talk) 15:35, 15 August 2015 (UTC)