Tvak@aol.com wrote: > > In a message dated 12/12/01 2:33:30 AM, Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no writes: > > << One simply has to remember that ET on the piano was just not available at > the > time, certainly not like we know it today. >> > > Correct me if I'm wrong about this, but it has been my impression that tuners > of past eras were ATTEMPTING to tune ET and didn't have the proper approach > to execute it. I believe someone described their approach as "melodic", > listening to two tones in succession instead of simultaneously. This would > appear to me to breed much inconsistency from tuning to tuning, let alone > from tuner to tuner. That leads me to ask a question... We "know" that the idea was around, and in "theory" it could be done. We also know that tuning methodology was different. Monochords were built to attempt an ET, pianotuners started counting beats and developing modern tests... but all in all we pretty much have to assume that proper ET for the piano was a good ways off in the mid 1800's. Further we have this little thing known as Tradition. And we are not toooooo far past the reign of meantone... There certainly had to be strong influences on the ear to cling to what was familiar....even to the most enlightened or liberated mind. > > I wonder (and I ask this question sincerely, from a point of ignorance) how > can we be so sure that the HT we tune today is similar to what was used in > Beethoven's day, since the methods we use to recreate those HTs are so > radically different from the methods used at the time? Which leads me to a tentative reply...grin... We dont... not really, not for sure. But we can recreate placing the same restrictions on the ear as were present at the time...as best we can anyways.... and see what happens when you get a tuner to follow old temperament recipies... and since this (or something similiar) has been done on more then one occasion and since the results are quite comparable then we again are presuaded to align our beliefs in orientation to our experiences... which as far as I can see tells us that we are pretty darn close to the real MacCoy. Or what ? > > Tom Sivak -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
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