Hi John, Interesting. That tuning is, in fact, rather ancient, and was popular among certain circles (at least as an idea, and mostly in Italy, a bit in Holland) in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Some experimental music was written at that time, and some experimental keyboards/harpsichords were built for it (maybe organs as well). It got more press (more people wrote about it) than actual use. It is also known as 1/3 comma mean tone, which becomes very nearly circular after 19 notes (hence 19 note ET, division of the octave into 19 equal parts). The keyboards for this on a few harpsichords, had split sharps (all 5), and additional slightly raised notes between B and C and between E and F. One of the most interesting features of the tuning is that it produces pure minor thirds - everything else is pretty strange. But it would be interesting to actually hear it, rather than speculate. (It became popular again among some circles along with other divisions, especially 31, in the second half of the 20th century) I'd argue pretty vehemently against putting these on the concert instruments, unless it was a very exceptional event. I wouldn't worry too much about the effect on pianos (in general) over the long term, as that much pitch change happens seasonally, at least here. Short term, there would be a fair amount of drift for a good while. For a concert instrument, you want to keep things within pretty fine parameters unless there is no way of avoiding it. I'd probably suggest less critical classroom pianos, myself, for practical reasons: we have 4 that are on trucks in rooms with double doors - easy to move. And then it would be a question of intra- departmental squabbling: doing this would put certain pianos out of use for everybody else. So let them hash out the issues. Me, I'm just the obliging soul who serves the department. My position would be 1) This will take a fair amount of my time, both getting the pianos there (into that tuning) and getting them back. Time that will be stolen from other duties. 2) The pianos in question will be out of commission for other purposes for a period of time (how much rehearsal?). It will take at least a couple days to get them stable at the adjusted tuning, and a couple more to get them back. And they will continue to be a little troublesome for at least a couple weeks or more. 3) The only likely "major" problem would be the need to replace a few strings, at worst, with the time involved and the stabilizing period. 4) If this project is important enough to the department to live with the results, I am happy to do it. [I would fully expect that after this much explanation, somebody might decide that practice uprights would do for this piece. But I would be willing to go along with whatever decision is made]. To re-stabilize, I think it would be worthwhile to do some "string stretching": press on each string in turn, with a fair amount of pressure, the kind of thing done with new strings. After having returned to pitch, before fine tuning. Here's another microtonal web site, with an amazing bibliography (about all aspects of temperament, not just microtonal). http://www.huygens-fokker.org/index_en.html BTW, I have finally managed to have a "floater" grand piano starting this fall, a grand that doesn't have a regular place and use. At the moment, it is 50¢ flat for a piece on a senior recital that has one at pitch and another 1/4 step flat. It will also serve as a designated prepared piano instrument on occasion, and various other functions as well. A great thing, if it can be managed. Solves a lot of problems. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu On Nov 9, 2009, at 2:17 PM, John Minor wrote: > I have been asked to tune a 19-tET(tone equal temperament) for a new > composition in a few weeks. It will require 2 pianos to be tuned as > follows: > > Any theories on long term effects from this tuning on a decent > piano? I'm considering using practice room pianos due to the > "uncertain" long term ramifications of tuning +31 and +42 cents > sharp on some unisons. Any comments?
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