HT's

[Billbrpt]

In a message dated 98-03-14 04:26:21 EST, you write:

<< "Rain Drop Prelude"  Chopin, Db maj. #15 .  
 	This should be one of the basic playing requirement for those who
 want to be piano technicians.  (Because I can barely  play it)  
 
 What HT would someone recommended for this? 
 
 Richard Moody  > >  >>


This is a piece from the Romantic period.  Chopin used a Broadwood piano and
often wrote in 4, 5, or 6 accidentals because he liked the "singing" tone of
the wide, rapidly beating intervals that the tunings of the period on the
pianos of that period produced.


Try the "best" Broadwood tuner's bearing plan as listed on page 554 of
Jorgensen's book, Tuning.  The only problem with this is that you will be
unable to know when the theoretical beat speeds given are correct.  Since you
have to adjust for inharmonicity, they are not exactly right anyway. 

    When you see a 4th or 5th among the white keys and it is more than a beat
per  second, simply think in terms of that interval having slightly, just
slightly, more tempering than you would be comfortable with in an ET.  When
you see a 4th or 5th among the black keys or between a black and a white key,
make that interval even more "clean" than you would dare to in ET but still
leave the very slightest tempering in it.  You can use the tests for a 4th or
5th to prove that the interval is still slightly tempered and tempered the
right way (not accidentally having a slightly wide 5th or narrowed 4th.)

This is a typical example of a Victorian Temperament (VT).  It also meets the
rules and specifications for a WT.  A VT is the very mildest (closest to ET)
form of a WT.  While a VT can serve as an "all-purpose" temperament as the ET
is touted to be, it is actually specific for Chopin and most of the late and
post Romantics, in my opinion.  I have heard some say that Chopin and Debussy
only sound good in ET but I strongly disagree with that opinion.  It is
unlikely that either of these composers actually worked with ET and therefore,
tuning in the temperament that they actually heard, which is also closer to
what all those previous to them heard than ET is, makes a lot of sense.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin