HT's

[Tom Cole]

Billbrpt wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 98-03-13 21:57:23 EST, you write:
> 
> << The average piano owner/player doesn't have the foggiest idea what a
>  temperament is, let alone an HT!  And also, since they only get the thing
>  tuned once every ten years or so, what difference can it possibly make? HTs
>  have their place in the world of music, but..
>  Dick RPT Montana >>
> 
> It makes a LOT of difference.
> 
> Bill Bremmer RPT
> Madison, Wisconsin

Bill,

Your statement does not prove to me how it can make a LOT of difference.
The truth is that it makes a difference to YOU. You are not the average
owner/player, obviously. Dick made a statement based on his own
experience. My experience is similar. I can remember a piano coach here
at the local university campus rehearsing on the concert hall S & S D,
tuned to a well-temperament from a previous concert, who was surprised
to hear that the piano was not in ET. Now, if a concert pianist doesn't
hear the difference...

Alright, there may be lots of concert pianists that do but my point is
that it is primarily we tuners, whose business it is to be aware of
temperament structure, who can notice quieter or noisier intervals.
Indeed, I have a customer who, for the life of him, cannot hear beats!
He hears the fundamentals only and cannot detect the coincident
partials, even the obvious ones. It seems to me that HTs would be
completely lost on him.

I liked what Susan had to say on this thread and have little to add
other than to add emphasis to her statements: "Intonation and intervals
are learned, not innate. Different cultures use very different scale
patterns and interval sizes."

Right or wrong, the overwhelming majority of the piano-playing public
has been trained/brainwashed with ET just as Javanese gamelan players
know and love their particular instrument tuning. I was raised on
ET-tuned pianos since birth and am keenly aware of what the different
intervals sound like based on an equal-tempered tuning. And, just as you
would have to pry my cold, rigor-mortised hands off of my Mac laptop in
order to interest me in a PC equivalent, I have yet to be persuaded by
HT arguments (in spite of Ed Foote's beautiful CD!). When I hear an HT
tuning, I interpret the different-from-ET beat speeds as "out of tune"
or "improperly tuned". From an objective POV, there is no right or wrong
about it. I'm only expressing my preference. I prefer a Macintosh mainly
because that's what I started with; they are what I know. As of this
writing, an ET tuning sounds right to me and, unless I can have an
instrument that allows me to control pitch as I play, my preference is
for a temperament without the kinks. There are plenty of expressive
devices available to me on modern pianos.

On the other hand, I do want to broaden my tuning skills by becoming
adept at tuning HTs when appropriate. What's going to make the
difference for me is when I tune my own piano in a Victorian temperament
and play on it every day, to see if I can warm up to it any. I'm willing
to try it. The chapter meeting will be here on Tuesday eve and it's also
time to tune the restrung Steinway upright again so I'll probably do the
tuning tomorrow. Will let you know what sort of reaction I get from the
unsuspecting members.

Tom
-- 
Thomas A. Cole RPT
Santa Cruz, CA