Rather then respond to Don Borcholt's comments in the topic on TOTW "Fine Times at Our House"
http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/304393
I thought this should be a separate topic. Part of one of Don's posts:
"One interesting thing, Bayard shows the 2nd note of the A part, the F#, as slightly flatted. He describes this as a "change of pitch of less than a half tone..." He only briefly mentions the use of non-chromatic notes, writing that the fiddlers did it deliberately, so that "faulty ear and fingering cannot be blamed for the intervals they play." In his introduction to "Dance to the Fiddle, March to the Fife," he adds little to his explanation, saying only that such notes are "less than semi-tones. These are the 'neutral' tones: somewhere between natural and flat, or natural and sharp." When I made up the MIDI files, I couldn't figure out how to produce a note outside of the chromatic scale, so I decided to use the F natural, rather than the F#. This is because in "Dance to the Fiddle, March to the Fife," Bayard says that "the 'shading-off,' as it were, from one mode to another, that characterizes these versions is a genuine, and once common, feature of our fiddling tradition." So I wanted the A part to sound more Dorian, in contrast to the Mixolydian B part. But I suspect the actual note was probably closer to the F#, as I believe you have played it, so that the whole is really modally ambiguous."
I do remember a friend once comment that "You know there are only 12 tones in the scale" (an approximation of what they said). My response was "You know that isn't true". Other cultures have different scales then those we know from European music. In my own experience arriving at those type of in between notes came from playing the Burl Hammons' version of "Greasy Coat" on the banjo (long before Edden's music as available), I always felt that C natural was not the right note; neither was a C sharp. When I got my fretless banjo put together, I played the tune and then stopped when I got to that note. I then checked the pitch (which was my preferred pitch) and found it about 1/3 up from C natural (i.e. about 2/3 below C sharp). For me, that was the note that was correct to my ear. Many other tunes that I've learned on banjo and fiddle, since that experience, also have that in between note(s).
On a fretted banjo, I often bend that string, as best I can, to get that note I want to hear. On the fiddle or fretless banjo, there's no problem.
I hope some of you find this topic interesting enough to contribute comments.
Carl