This week's encounters with Well Temperament

[Avery Todd]

Hi Jon,

Good for you!

Avery

At 09:15 AM 04/29/02 -0400, you wrote:
>At 02:37 AM 4/29/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>>      Same here -- Every time I've mentioned HTs to piano teachers, 
>> they've never heard of it.  A few younger musicians I know have 
>> electronic keyboards that enable other than ET tuning, and they at least 
>> know what a different temperament is.  But I have yet to have anyone 
>> request other than ET.  Others I mention it to will say something like, 
>> "Hasn't everything been equal temperament since Bach's Equal-tempered 
>> clavichord?" (or similarly ignorant response).  And the very few 
>> educated people who are aware of HTs also seem to think that one can 
>> play only in a few closely related keys or that one can't wander too far 
>> from I - IV - V chord progressions.  --David Nereson, RPT, Denver
>
>As my customer with the S&S B stated after this epiphany, "Bach didn't 
>write the 'Equal Tempered Klavier' ".
>
>Imagine the morale in a cafeteria if they were served up the same meal 
>every day, spoon feeding the line that this
>is the best food for you and all those others are not good and we know 
>best. Would their customers return day after day?
>
>What if someone wanted softer hammers on their piano and you refused 
>saying that only hard hammers make the piano sound
>as it should or vise versa.  How about a dealership only offering black 
>pianos because he vehemently believes wood finish
>pianos are an abomination.
>
>There is nothing wrong with an industry standard but when it becomes a 
>dictate it erodes an individual's free will.
>Variety is the spice of life.  A temperament is just a temperament; a tool 
>to be used. It is not a political or religious
>ideology to be defended with zealous fervor.
>
>Before I purchased an ETD, I was too lazy to learn a new temperament 
>scheme. I did rather well in my aural efforts
>but with the introduction of the ETD the whole operation became easier and 
>it broadened my horizon. I suppose there are some
>people who buy a computer and only play solitaire on it. If you have an 
>ETD and don't try and HT, you are not realizing the
>full potential of the machine or yourself.
>
>Believe it or not, most pianos sound better in something other than ET. 
>This is not just my opinion but include Julliard graduates
>(real musicians), they prefer the sound of their grand pianos in WT not 
>ET.   I did a test: a spinet, console and studio up in my
>shop; all in ET and sounded edgy and harsh. I retuned them in a WT and 
>they became sonorous and quite pleasing.
>
>Selection of temperament is important, a mild WT gets them to dip their 
>toe in the water before wading in deeper if they want to.
>It's their piano, their choice of temperament. It's my job to help them 
>find the one which suits them.
>
>As with parts selection, I will use appropriate materials to achieve their 
>desires. If the tone or touch are not liked, options are offered
>and discussed, alterations are made.  Just as learning voicing or altering 
>touchweight expanded my abilities, multiple temperament
>capabilities adds to my versatility.
>
>So whether it's tuning or servicing, I want to be able to offer solutions 
>and when it strikes such a chord when the piano is
>magically transformed I become their hero.  I can correlate the 
>introduction of a WT with changing leverage on an action:
>the customer wonders why it wasn't like that from the factory or why no 
>other technician was able to produce these results.
>A quote from the good ole days come to mind, "If your not part of the 
>solution, you're part of the problem".
>
>
>Regards,
>
>Jon Page,   piano technician
>Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass.
>mailto:jonpage@attbi.com
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~