HT's

[Kenneth W. Burton]

	Bill and everyone,

	Yesterday, several of us were treated to an excellent
demonstration of various HT's by Gordon Rumson of Calgary, Alberta. He
demonstrated on a Pianovelle. After getting over the strange, new feeling
of hearing all those fluttering beats, I started hearing the melodies in a
new way. He was playing selections from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.
	He made a statement that seemed very helpful to me: That the use
of Historic Temperaments seems more appropriate to a smaller, chamber
music setting than to a concert hall setting. Also, that they are more
suitable for instruments which have a shorter sustain time, such as
harpsichords, fortepianos, etc.
	I really felt that there were new things to listen for in the
music because of the characteristic colors of the various keys.

	Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary Alberta

On Fri, 13 Mar 1998, Billbrpt wrote:

> 
> In a message dated 98-03-13 05:47:46 EST, you write:
> 
> << So after reading Jorgensesn's work I am left asking myself "what is the
>  best tuning for the average customer" (average defined above).  Will the
>  improved harmony in the simpler keys in a Victorian or other HT, bring out
>  the best in what is being played on the average home piano?  Could this
>  really be the right solution for maximizing the musical experience of the
>  'average' player?
>   >>
> You are right on the money, in my view.  Those who feel they MUST make an
> Acrosonic have pure 5ths in favor of strained, fast and still uneven 3rds are
> just missing the boat, entirely.  They are making the instrument sound "sour"
> to virtually everyone who plays it.
> 
> This is not to say that advanced players on fine instruments don't like and
> appreciate the Victorian and other HT's too.  You find only a very few,
> occasional professional artists who are truely adapted to ET and find anything
> else unacceptable.  Unfortunately, we hear from the technicians who service
> those kinds of clients the loudest, clearest and most often.   Red-faced and
> white lipped, they insist that ET and ET only is the norm.  Anything else is
> an archaic curiosity and to offer it as a "piano tuning" to a customer without
> "full disclosure" and giving the customer a choice between the "archaic
> curiosity" and the "normal" ET is unethical.  This is, of course, nonsense and
> it is certainly not the view held by all.  Perhaps it is a view held by only a
> few.  It is simply they who voice their opinion with candor.  In my Chapter,
> even those who only tune in ET do not hold the view that using HT's is
> unethical.  It is simply one technician's style vs. another's.
> 
> We do not all need to tune every piano as if we were a Steinway Hall
> technician working in Carnegie Hall.  I am glad that you have come to this
> conclusion.  I came to it about 10 years ago and renounced ET entirely just
> about 1990. The year 2000 will be my 10th anniversary where I can proudly
> proclaim that I have not tuned a piano in ET in 10 years.  If only those who
> strain away attempting ET and ET with pure 5ths only to end up with Reverse
> Well would slap themselves in the face and realize what they are actually
> doing,  many a piano would produce far sweeter music.
> 
> Bill Bremmer RPT
> Madison, Wisconsin
>