curiosity about a method of temperament tuning

[Stephen Airy]

I'm not really using this method right now.  I'm using
a cheap $15 Korg chromatic tuner for the temperament
octave (F3-F4) cause I can't afford anything better.

Btw, the middle section of my piano is C3 to C#5, all
plain trichords.  Whichever method I use to tune the
temperament, I occasionally wind up with a slightly
fast fifth or fourth here and there, but most often an
extra-slow third, usually in the temperament octave,
but often below, as far down as the lowest note on the
long bridge if not straddling the break by a couple
notes.  (Slow as in bps should be around 4 to 5 but
it's more like 2 or 3.)

Also, within a couple days, I have often found octaves
in the 5th and 6th octaves that were flat on the high
side, often by ~5-8bps or more.  There has been
improvement in this area, but there's still room for
more.

--- A440A@AOL.COM wrote:
> <<I wonder how close I could come by
> just tuning the temperament (via intervals) solely
> by
> ear (not counting the beat rates or using an
> electronic device, just tuning to what "sounds"
> good)?
>  Any ideas how close to a correct temperament
> someone
> could come using this method?>>
> 
> Greetings, 
>   That depends on what "correct" means to you.  If
> you are aiming at ET, I 
> don't believe this method will pass a Guild test. At
> least, the ones I have 
> seen didn't.  By being off 1 cent on a couple of
> fifths, you will skew your 
> thirds as far out as some mild well-temperaments. 
> That would be fine, except 
> they won't be in the traditional order so the music
> will suffer some 
> alteration.  
>   Now,  if you wanted to tune the Young, regarded as
> an idealized form of 
> well-tempered tuning,  you only need listen to
> fifths to create a very 
> sophisticated, complex, temperament.  You tune 6
> pure fifths, from 
> C-F-Bb-Eb-G#-C#-F#, then six equally impure fifths
> going the other way, ie, 
> C-G-D-A-E-B-F#. (transpose with fourths to stay in
> the octave, of course),  
> This will give you three thirds with  syntonic
> commas, the CE, GB, and FA 
> thirds are all 5.8 cents wide and the thirds in
> between progress in size as 
> you move by fifths.  You will have three thirds that
> are 21 cents wide, etc.  
> A tuning like this can shed a whole new light on
> music of its era.
>   Try it, you'll like it. 
> REgards, 
> Ed Foote 
>    


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month.
http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1