Which HT?

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 1/6/99 6:25:45 PM Central Standard Time,
piano.tech@ns.sympatico.ca writes:

<< Hi List,
 I was trying to get a University I do work for, to let me do a HT for
 them.
 They did not seem interested. In fact one Prof., obviously
 misunderstood, as he indicated, only one instrument was intersted in a
 higher pitch.
 However, one good question did come out of it. How do you determine
 which HT to use? Is it determined by period in history, or is it which
 composer wrote the piece?
 I was just going to use one of the ones in the SAT manual.
 Although, I do have some that were sent to me, referred by a Journal
 article, discussing Owen Jorgensens book, I think it was.
 Someone was going to give a class on HT in KC, it would be a good idea
 to indicate which one to use and where?
 Regards,
 John M. Ross
 Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada.
  >>

I'm so glad you asked this question.  I read Foote's reply and do not disagree
with him on anything he says but I approach the use of a temperament that is
not *equal* from a very different perspective than he does.  What I have
always looked for is a temperament that would be appropriate for all music
that might be played on the piano in question.  Just as ET is assumed to be
the ultimate compromise because it favors no keys, I work for an ultimate
compromise that gives a slight distinction to each and every key.  

Even though the suggestions Ed proposed fulfill this description, I still hear
those who say that such a temperament makes the piano sound "out of tune"
regardless of who may have tuned it.  And I must admit that I get the same
reaction from some of the most important people there may be in the entire
industry.  Standard Equal Temperament is set in these people's ears indelibly.
I respect and understand that.

However, you must realize that the people you will be working for are playing
pianos which are out of tune more often than not.  Very few of these people
have the privilege of having daily or even weekly tunings.  They appreciate,
of course, the sound of a freshly tuned piano and would want it in a
performance situation.   But the rest of the time, their piano may be less
than perfect and they learn to accept it.  Therefore, you can expect that they
do not have the same sensitivity to "beat speeds in the 3rds" or any of the
fine gradations of compromise that are necessary to really effect well a
complete piano tuning, regardless of temperament.

As piano technicians, we are like the jeweler who can spot a flaw in a
diamond.  The average person might not be aware of the difference or be able
to describe it.  Only the highest grade of professionals have become so used
to a true ET that they can detect any flaw in it and require that it be
corrected.  The rest of the piano using public can and do accept a much wider
tolerance from ET than might be expected.

What you need to educate them on is the Cycle of 5ths.  It is important to
understand that a temperament that has tonal distinction or "color" is one
where you can hear distinct differences in all of the 24 major and minor keys.
If you make these differences between the keys have large contrasts, the piano
may sound strange or unusual to the user and/or listener.  If you choose a
very mild temperament to start with and you tune very accurately, the sounds
that will come from the piano will all be seemingly "normal", they'll just be
arranged to align with the cycle of 5ths rather than chromatically.  Virtually
all music that you play will have a different "color" or "flavor" to it than
it would have in ET.

This kind of compromise yields to the historical precedents that there are in
both tuning and keyboard composition.  ET actually resists the fundamental
cycle of 5ths concept and literally "homogenizes" all tonalities which can be
very easily  made distinct into one consistent sound.  The total and absolute
state of equality is the most difficult state to achieve in a tuning.
Unfortunately, when it is finally achieved, there is merely the distinction of
having *no distinction* whatsoever between one key or the other. 

What I find incomprehensible is that there are many of those who tune a really
good ET and can tolerate nothing else who still claim that they hear distinct
tonalities.  It simply cannot be both ways.

Many piano users when questioned will hold a contradictory set of beliefs
about the way a scale should sound.  It should have both tonal distinction
*and* be equal.  When you tune a mild, Victorian type temperament, you will
effectively be achieving what they really want to hear.

 You can find sets of temperament correction figures in Owen Jorgensen's book,
*Tuning*. The Broadwood factory temperaments are a good place to start.  The
people who tuned these temperaments which are clearly not *equal* by today's
standards actually thought of them as being ET.  There have been several on
the List who have suggested that there should be a fairly broad tolerance for
what might be considered *equal*.  Certainly, if you consider that a person
who takes the PTG RPT Tuning Exam and scores an 80 in the temperament and
midrange sections (and otherwise scores at least 80 in all other sections of
the exam) will achieve RPT status, and those tunings will be accepted as ET
just as well as the market will bear as those which are much closer to being
truly *equal*.

If you tune one of these temperaments and perhaps even mitigate it some so
that it satisfies your own tolerances, you can be confident without
reservation that your work lies within the bounds of what is usually expected
of a piano tuning.  The practice of slightly altering a temperament so that it
satisfies one personal taste, perception or tolerances is a historically
documented, legitimate and acceptable practice.

  You should try these on your own piano or on one where you are sure that the
tolerances expected for such things as Temperament would permit the amount of
deviation from ET that you are planning. 

Play the piano yourself and listen carefully.  Invite your customer to play it
before you leave to see how they like it.  When you find something that seems
to be universally palatable, you will have what the Prof's at the university
will not only accept, but most likely prefer, in the end, over ET.  It will be
in how the music now sounds all the more appealing than it did before, no
matter how good that was.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin