Lest it be thought that I’m arguing in favor of ignorance:
Of course the theory mavens are correct (most of them, anyway), and I know and understand what they're saying. But in practical terms, for playing music and communicating quickly and clearly with other musicians for performance purposes (in situations where the music is not on paper), it makes more sense to me, if, for example, you're playing a song in the key of E and the melody comes to the fifth of the V augmented chord (Baug.) and somebody says, "Wait, what's that note?" to say "G" instead of "F double sharp", which would be technically correct. They're going to know where to find a G with no problem, but have to think "F double sharp? Oh, that's the same as G". I think calling notes by the names that are most convenient just makes more sense in a practical situation.
In Western music, which includes virtually all the music pedal steel guitarists play, (“We play both kinds of music: Country AND Western!
”) regardless of the fine tuning choices of any instrument, we are using the Equal Temperament system in which we are able to modulate freely from one key to another or use chords that are not diatonic to the key (e.g. a G major chord in a song that’s in E), so the enharmonic notes are not different pitches in practice. The theoretical distinction really has its main function with regard to writing music on paper, the idea being to make it easier to read by as much as possible not having different notes share the same line or space. (But even there if you write a chromatic run the notes that fall between the scale notes have to share the line or space of the note before them or after them, so you choose according to which choices will require the fewest accidentals.)
One way of looking at stating the tuning and setup of a pedal steel is, What do you use it for? I have a lever that lowers my 5th and 10th strings ½ step. If you say the tuning’s in E, therefore everything should be stated in sharps, I say the primary thing I use that lever for is to flat the fifth of E and E7th, so it makes more sense to call it a Bb lever than an A# lever. The 2nd string and 4th and 8th lower note is a tossup—who says its function in a B6th chord defines it? In open position (with standard changes) it’s major seventh of E major chord (D#), third of B major chord (D#), flatted fifth of A major chord (Eb), fifth of G#m (D#), fifth of Abm (Eb), dominant seventh of F7th chord (Eb)… Call it what you like.
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Brint Hannay on 13 December 2006 at 03:16 PM.]</p></FONT>
But if you want to call it a science, great. Let's see - the Berklee College of Musical Science and Engineering? Has quite a ring, don't you think? 
