HT's (Ad Nauseum)

[Horace Greeley]

Susan, Tom, et al.,

WHAT?!?

You mean someone actually makes some effort to consider
the harmonic implications of temperament?

That such implications might have some bearing on a composer's
voicing of chords?

Or, melodic considerations?

Or, that there was, after all, some _point_ to taking all those
hundreds of undergraduate hours of theory and ear training?

That a performer might make use of such things to more completely
involve a potential listener in the process?

That such a process might effect the psycho-acoustic experience of
both performer and listener?

That this experience might then more thoroughly involve
and excite the emotions?

That music might, therefore, communicate something that speaks to
our mutual humanity?

Heaven forfend!

But seriously, folks, all this blather about historical temperaments is the
story proverbially twice told by an idiot if it is taken from the frame of 
reference of performance (in _it's_ broadest context).

The "ideal" piano is transparent to the performer.  This is true whether it is
used for private practice at home, for the church performance of the local
MTA branch recitals, or at Carnegie Hall.  For me, as a technician who has
_actively_ used a variety of HTs for many years in many settings, if the
performer notices the temperament at all, it is not transparent enough.

That is to say, virtually any temperament can be made to work, so long as
the octaves make sense, and the unisons are solid.  The temperament,
per se, should merely provide some difficult-to-define psycho-acoustic
element of freedom to/for the performer.  To the extent that the performer
is/becomes aware of the temperament _as such_, the tuning is, for me,
anyway, a failure.

In the nearly 30 years I have been doing concert work, only three pianists
have consistently correctly identified a temperament as being unequal.
Those are, Alfred Brendl, Ivan Morevic, and John Perry.  Of those three,
only Morevic was consistently able to correctly identify specific
temperaments.

I am quite sure that there are others who can do this.  Mind you, however,
that my criterion for this is whether or not their assessment in native to
them,
or not.  That is, I virtually never discuss these issues with performers.
They need
not be concerned with whether or not some wacky tuner has saddled them
with an instrument which will be out of tune well before intermission.
Those out there
who also do work in major venues with major artists can attest that artists
are,
by and large, _massively_ grateful for an instrument without broken strings,
with all the klunkers klunking, and even reasonably stable.

To put this in perspective, relatively recently, a very well know artist,
having
played a very well know make of piano in a very well known venue sent
the following report to the manufacturer:

	"88 different notes.  88 different sounds."

>From that point of view, perhaps, just perhaps, there was something
more important, to this artist at least, than the relative relationships
of a few intervals.

Oh, well, there must be something around here I can go and break before
lunch.

Sorry if some find this position awkward or offensive.  My flame suit is in
good repair.  

Cheers!

Horace



At 06:22 AM 2/18/1998, you wrote:
>Tom Cole wrote:
>>> << At the moment, my wife is playing Schumann (Blumenstuck op 19 in Ab
>>>  major). It sounds offal, I mean awful. All of the tones having equal
value
>>> seems to put the temperament in a bad light. The key of Ab in Vlotti-Young
>>> requires some major finessing by the pianist.  >>
>>> 
>>> Just curious, does your wife have the same opinion of the sound as you do?
>>
>>She is asking, when do I put it back in tune? She did just as you were
>>saying, poking the noisy intervals in a rude sort of way.
>>
>>> You are right when you say that the music must be played differently
>than it
>>> is when tuned in ET.  The faster beating that you hear which disturbs
>you can
>>> and should become that which gives stregnth and character to the music.
>>> 
>>I'll experiment with different ways of playing to see how I can make it
>>sound well.
>
>Tom, could you do something for me? If the piano is still in the
>Valotti-Young, could you sit down with the Blumenstuck by Schumann, and
>play through it very slowly? When it sounds like "offal", could you analyze
>for me which intervals are bothering you the worst, and which direction you
>would move them? i.e. is it 
>a busy fifth (too narrow)? a wide major third (too fast)? a narrow major
>third (too slow)? or a series of intervals like consecutive thirds or
>sixths which is 
>too uneven?
>
>Inquiring mind would LOVE to find out!
>
>Best,
>
>Susan
>
>P.S. Loved our dinner at the convention, and trying out the EX. Give my
>regards to your wife.
>
>
>Susan Kline
>P.O. Box 1651
>Philomath, OR 97370
>skline@proaxis.com		
>
>"Time will end all my troubles, but I don't always
>approve of Time's methods."
>		-- Ashleigh Brilliant
>
>
Horace Greeley, CNA, MCP, RPT

Systems Analyst/Engineer
Controller's Office
Stanford University

email: hgreeley@leland.stanford.edu
voice mail: 650.725.9062
fax: 650.725.8014