In a message dated 7/15/98 10:35:22 PM Central Daylight Time, remoody@easnet.net writes: << That's the fallacy, there is no way to achieve "historically correct results". What should be said is that we are attempting to approximate the tunings that were heard in the classical era. One has to be prepared to accept the reality that tuning may have been something so haphazard and varied we would wonder how the keyboard was used with other players at all. I personally believe it wasn't that bad, but I don't think it was as good as we are lead to believe by beat tables and tuning machine settings. I think there is enough evidence that instruments of that period, esp the piano-forte were unstable enough, not to be concerned with exactitude we are used to day. >> These comments are quite valid. This is perhaps the reason why the Temperament Festival at the Convention only featured one "Historical" Temperament (the Handel). The others, including mine were all modern temperaments for the modern piano, adjusted for inharmonicity but which reflect historical precedents. >From the very beginning of my experience with HT's, my lingering question had been what to do about inharmonicity and the octaves. Virtually none of the HT's you find in Jorgensen's or any other publication were used on the piano as we know it today. Therefore, it makes sense to find what works. There are two HT's that I use as they were published except that they are adjusted for Inharmonicity and the octaves are stretched: The Valotti and the 1/7 comma Meantone. This is not to say that there aren't others which can and do work, as they were written. Just as with other techniques, one finds what works and what pleases the most customers and one sticks with it. Many technicians avoid the HT's because of a single or a few attempts which turned out negatively. Never again! Sometimes, all it takes is hearing a meantone "wolf" somewhere, out of context for one to say, "The HT's *wouldn't work* with modern pianos". My experience however is quite different. My customers accept and enjoy the sound of their pianos as I tune them. At the Convention, a large group of Piano Technicians found the sound of the Equal-Beating Victorian to be superior to ET. This is why I use it. I don't tune the piano to make it sound "weird" of to hear "wolves" howl, I tune it so that the music from it will have a tonality which reflects the key or mode that is being played, all the while keeping within the bounds of what the "contemporary ear" has learned to accept. I tune for a better sound than standard ET has to offer. The need for precision is paramount. If I allow any error whatsoever in what I am doing, I might as well simply dial in an FAC program, stop the lights on each note, pull in the unisons and be done with it. To create a better sound than an approach like that will offer takes much more effort, careful and extensive study and a commitment to superior, not usual standards. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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