Jim writes: << Does anyone have a clear, step by step procedure for tuning a Werkmeister III aurally? (on a harpsichord) I have put it on with a Verituner and a SAT, but I'm trying to "wean" myself from ETDs for a while. >> Greetings, This was just posted a few days ago on the tech list: this is a plan for the Kirnberger, compliments of Carey Beebe: Here's how you go about setting Kirnberger III: 1. Tune your c'' (that's the c one octave above middle c'!) to a tuning fork, and tune middle c' in absolute perfect tune below it. 2. Now we want to determine the e' a perfect third above middle c': This will be a revelation if you have never heard a perfect third before--Your violinist friends are going to find it unbearably flat, but we want it in perfect tune. (Hint- -if you split your interval over the octave, you will find it easier to hear because the speed of the beats is halved.) 3. Next, the hard part. Make all the fifths around the circle between C and E equally narrow and rough. We are dividing the comma among these four fifths, instead of the twelve of equal temperament, so they are going to be three times as out of tune as the equal tempered fifths we know and love on the piano. To tune a narrow fifth, first tune it perfectly, then lower the top note (or raise the bottom note) until you can't bear it any more. That's probably about a quarter of a comma! All your fifths C-G, G-D, D-A and A-E should sound equally rough. Don't move your c' or e'--you've already tuned them, and must keep that interval as the beautiful perfect third. (Actually, it wasn't that hard, was it?) 4. Tune all the fifths from the flat side of C around the circle of keys absolutely perfect. Stop about the Eb, and begin again working around the sharp side of E, tuning all those fifths absolutely perfect. (In theory, you'll end up with one fifth a little narrow, in fact very close to an equal tempered fifth, but in practice, they should all sound perfect.) When you are happy with your middle octave, you must bring the rest of your instrument into tune with what you have done. Tune down in octaves, and up in octaves. Ed Foote RPT http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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