Very interesting Now I must find out what "continuo" is as in the announcements on classical radio, "and now a Vivaldi concerto for strings and continuo". Never mind what I thought it was but if you must know "email me privately". But a question I would like to ask is did the (baroque keyboard players for instance) tune their instruments according to what key the piece was written in? In that Vivaldi concerto we hear the harpsichord sounding like a twangy raspy metallic tone generating instrument that gets 3/4 buried in the "mix" as recordng engineers might say. And another question that might be interesting to pursue, is how actually are guitars and lutes tuned, especially how the frets are layed out. I have heard some people advocating this might be the earliest example of Equal Temperemant. On that I am skeptical as string pressure also has a lot to do with making chords sound in tune, or when does the player complain about the spacing of the frets? What does determine the spacing of the frets? Richard Moody "Sir, these frets are buzzing,. "Ma'am, it is your fingering. If I may demonstrate..... ---------- > From: Steve Pearson <SPearson@yamaha.com> > To: pianotech@ptg.org > Subject: Re: Hawkeye Harriet -Reply -Reply -Reply > Date: Friday, July 11, 1997 11:58 AM > > actually, violinists often push the thirds even sharper than the piano, > depending on the key, and where the note is leading. In early music > "period instrument" groups, efforts are made to play purer thirds, (flat) > adjusting to the tuning system used by the continuo instrument. That will > also be different if a lute is used for continuo - in which case something > nearer to equal temp is the norm, or harpsichord/organ which will be > tuned to a "system" like Marpurg, etc., and it really takes some careful > listening. Violinists playing with a piano will usually tune their "G" string > to the piano (sharp), making a mild wolf between "D" & "G" so they don't > sound flat on the "G" string. Instumentalists in general use a sort of > "sliding scale", which is why it can be so difficult to get pianos in tune > with orchestras. This also has some intruguing implications on the > already overdiscussed discussion of perfect pitch. > Steve
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