more on this temperament thing

[Richard Moody]

----- Original Message -----
From: <A440A@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 5:10 AM
Subject: Re: more on this temperament thing


| >>The concern of orchestras and choruses is intonation.  Beethoven and
| Strivinsky heard the music in their heads and wrote it out on music
staves.
| The piano needs to be tempered to play this music, and the orchestra
needs
| good intonation to
| sound the way the composer intended.  <<
|
|   And the keyboard doesn't?

I am only quibbling with the word "intonation"   I have never heard it used
in concection with the piano.  Do you mean "intonation" to mean the same as
"tempering" or something in addition or beyond tempering.
    I have heard it used referring to how instrument players play with
themselves after they have tuned in order to make harmony sound "good"
because of tonal and tuned differences (between fixed pitch inst. of
course) and because of the need for all instruments to adjust pitch in
different key signatures especially those outside the the key signature of
the instrument.   If you say tempering defines the intonation of the
keyboard I suppose---but it would be interesting to  hear from the
musicians whose livelyhood bepends on good intonation (because that is
something you don't have to worry about on the keyboards.)


|    ET is not a "realized ideal".  It is more the result of the industry
| arriving at a place that excludes artistic interpretation of the scale in
| order to standardize a commodity, thus, Its benefits are mainly economic.
| Regards,
| Ed Foote RPT

    ET satisfied a desire (ie,"it would be ideal to do this")  1. play in
"all the keys".  (The wells satisy this) 2. To have harmonies in all the
keys sound "the same".  (Something the wells couldn't do which while some
people call this "key color" others call an incumberance or distraction) 3.
A standardization of tuning from tuner and tuner and instrument and
instrument.  4. The desire for a "universal tuning"  (again most call this
"good", others call it, well I will let others supply the word(s).  5.
Modern demands of the recording studio to have over dubbing done by
different pianos in different studios.  6. and yes, there are economic
ideals.  ET is simply the "best way" a piano sounds. size to size, model to
model, manufacturer to manufacturer.  7. The idea of "proportionality" that
makers base their design on, ET provides this same "type" of
proportionality in how their instruments will be tuned. 8. Spacing of frets
on fretted instruments.
9. The preference of player or singers for ET.  (this must stand the test
of time so I welcome repeating history in this one, or possible "new"
temeperaments.)

    These are the "ideals" I think ET is about, and the reasons.
ET was arrived at by the desires of musicians for an "ideal tuning".   That
it excludes artistic interpretation or inhibits it are opinions I hold the
opposite to.  I won't deny that a few might support another temperament,
but as with anything in music, new ideas must stand the test of time in
addition to sentiment of the moment.  My sentiments are with ET.  Do I feel
this way to the extreme of excluding the use of HT's?  HT's have their
place.  ET has its place.  We can't dictate the tastes or preferences of
musicians.   ---ric