Beat Rates in music

[Alan R. Barnard]

I dunno. I usually tune 4:2 octaves on all plain wires and 6:3 octaves
starting with the first wound string I find, whether its below the break, in
the tenor, or even--bless "Dolly" and all her kin--within my f33-f45
temperament.

Should I be this rigid or would others who've been "out there" so much
longer please suggest guidelines they use.

Alan Barnard
Salem, MO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Brekne" <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no>
To: "PTG" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, August 05, 2002 12:25 PM
Subject: Beat Rates in music


> Hi folks
>
> I know this subject has come up relative to the use of
> historical temperaments before, but I am curious about how
> the amount of stretch in an ET tuning can be / is conciously
> employed as a part of the music played.
>
> I think is generally aggreed upon the the more stretch in
> general there is, the more tense the general sound of the
> tuning is. Clearly a Moonlight Sonata played on a fine
> instrument tuned with a lot of stretch imployed based on a
> wide 6:3 temperament octave is going to sound different then
> the same piece played on the same instrument where the
> temperment and stretch are very compressed. Perhaps it is
> possible to colour a musical piece through the general
> tenseness of the tuning ?
>
> I wonder also if anyone uses this technique as a voicing
> tool. I find that the more tense (stretched) the instrument
> is, the more is takes on a hard like character, and the more
> compressed the tuning the more roundlike and mellow the
> instrument sounds.
>
> I get the feeling most tuners learn one style of stretch and
> rarely change that. How many of you place any value on the
> the ability to adjust stretch in relation to the two above
> criteria, even when your own basic taste for stretch is at
> odds with these ?
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
>
> RicB