Hi Ralph, You lost me on this post. When you say >I like very little movement in > my 5ths and this way I can control them. Do you mean your 5ths are near perfect (just)? If so, then >They my be faster than theory calls for They should be *slower* than theory calls for. What am I missing here??????? Sincerely, Howard S. Rosen, RPT Boynton Beach, Florida ---------- > From: ralph m martin <rmartin30@juno.com> > To: pianotech@ptg.org > Subject: Re: Temperaments (the pianos', not the technicians') > Date: Sunday, February 01, 1998 2:07 PM > > Hi Mark > I'm one of those old duffs who started with 4ths and 5ths theme and just > this year, returned to it. The reason?...I like very little movement in > my 5ths and this way I can control them. I always check with 3rds after > and Rarely have to move anything. They my be faster than theory calls for > but they ascend properly. > > I know...you can't teach an old dog new tricks! > Ralph Martin > > On Sun, 1 Feb 1998 10:21:55 -0500 (EST) Mark Graham <magraham@bw.edu> > writes: > >I learned tuning at the Perkins School in Elyria, Ohio, in the 70's. > >It > >was a unique place, an old YMCA full of pianos. There was a gym and a > >pool, and more dorm rooms that were ever needed. We learned to set > >temperaments by 4ths and 5ths. If you paid for the "concert tuning" > >course, you learned about 3rds. I don't recall 6ths being mentioned. > >Most > >of the good technicians from that school (and there are plenty on this > >list) ended up learning about the fine points of temperaments on their > >own. > > > >I lived in Elyria, but many of the students lived in the building. One > >day > >I was eating lunch with them in the big communal kitchen, and a woman > >named Sue went over to a diassembled upright in the hall and played > >some > >chords. I remember her exclaiming "Sweet!", and I remember all of us > >raising our heads and cocking an ear in that direction. She played > >some > >more, high, low, close, open, and it really was an uncommonly > >attractive > >sound, clear on some chords, complex on others. We all noticed it. > > > >Upon checking the temperament, it became clear that it wasn't perfect > >(ET > >being what we called perfect). Twenty years later, I realize that what > >we > >were hearing was a piano which a student had tuned in our > >approximation of > >ET, but which had slipped into a not-ET well temperament of some > >mongrel > >variety. We were so used to hearing one temperament, hour after hour, > >that > >a different temperament seemed like a doorway to different music. > > > >And that is how I regard temperaments now. I always attempt ET, > >because > >even for our Bach festival, that is what is specified. (We have an > >excellent harpsichordist who requests Valotti-Young at A 415 for her > >personal teaching harpsichord, but other than her, our very correct > >Bach > >experts here are completely unaccustomed to other temperaments.) At > >home, > >though, and on the pianos of some teachers who I know play almost > >exclusively Romantic repertoirs, I tune various temperaments, and > >savor > >the results like you would savor a fine meal. There are always lovely > >surprises in store, and sour chords happen, but only very, very > >rarely. > >It's amazing how broad a range our ears will accept. > > > >I do know that when I set ET on a piano using a temperament strip, > >where > >the piano is pretty out-of-tune, and then tune the unisons, when I > >check > >the temperament, it often no longer is ET. I suppose those of you who > >always do two-pass tunings would eliminate this "problem", but I find > >most > >people don't care, and the results are interesting and not at all > >offensive. > > > >When you're talking about temperaments, there are many paths to > >beauty. > >The older I get, the more I am willing to accept and appreciate any > >reasonable temperament that comes along. That applies to piano > >temperaments, and people temperaments. > > > >When I was working at the Perkins School painting walls, I once > >jokingly > >said that I was going to paint a mural of Moses receiving the Equal > >Temperament on Mt. Sinai. 20 years later, I know more than ever that > >that > >is only a joke. > > > >Mark Graham > >Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music > >Berea, Ohio > > > > > > _____________________________________________________________________ > You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. > Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com > Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
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