Temperaments

[Billbrpt]

In a message dated 98-01-28 17:30:46 EST, you write:

<< Would you clarify a little more what exactly you mean by "prompt" &
 "after" sound? I'm assuming by prompt you mean a reading taken immediately
 as the hammer hits the string and "after" taken during the first part of
 the sustained tone. Is this correct? Thanks. >>

Yes, you are correct in your interpretation.  There is a difference you can
experience both aurally and visually.  If you give a note a test blow, it
gernerally will read a little sharper initially than after a second or so.  If
you strike a 3rd in the mid range that has clear, audible beating, you may be
able to hear it slow down a bit after the prompt sound.  There are two views
on this, that the prompt sound is most important or that the sustained sound
is.

I lean toward the latter mostly because of my training as an Examiner.  But
there is another reason. If a sound is very short, the perception of its pitch
is not so important.  Therefore, a slightly mistuned interval cannot be
perceived as such if it is not sustained long enough for the ear to take
notice of the mistuning.

This is at least one reason why I think what are being called "tempered
octaves" in the high treble work.  Inharmonicity permits us to choose
coincident partials which are very sharp to the fundamentals if we wish to.
We also know that for some reason, the ear likes to hear the higher range of
the piano much sharper than it should be theoretically.  If you tune an octave
between notes in the 6th and 7th octave that has audible beating in it, for
example, it may sound quite acceptible in many circumstances.  One reason that
the ear may not perceive the out of tuneness or even the beats is that the
sustain is so short that there is no time to focus on them.

When I read an aural tuning with an SAT, I like to do it the way I was trained
as an Examiner.  I use strip mutes throughout the piano when I tune.  This has
also been a matter of great debate.  It has been well demonstrated that a
properly tuned unison will read about 1/2 cent flat of a single string.  This
presents a problem both in aural and electronic tuning.  To get around this, I
read my tuning with the SAT only on the single strings.  Therefore, all
intervals, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths and octaves are fixated between single strings,
never a whole unison against a single string, that would create an automatic
1/2 cent error!  I play the note very softly and carefully find the point
where the SAT is dead on.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin