Stretch Vs.Temperament, (was Beat Rates)

[Richard Brekne]

Billbrpt@AOL.COM wrote:
> 
> To me, this shows that there is a lot more inconsistency
> among tuners than we'd really like to think about or admit
> yet there are so many who just can't imagine anything but
> ET.  The "E" in ET stands for "Equal" which means "the
> same".  How can all of these pianos not be compatible with
> each other and all still be "Equal"?  Sure, there are
> different scale designs and differing amounts of stretch
> but I don't think that accounts for all of this
> incompatibility.
> 

I think Bill, that we all notice there is inconsistancy
amoung tuning styles. And if we are talking about good
tuners, I doubt much of this inconsistancy has to do with
variations in temperament. It doesnt take much of a
difference in stretch amounts to create a very different
sounding piano, and I dont know how many times these past
years I have noticed two good tuners arguing about whose
style is the correct one, when the differences between the
two have almost exclusively to do with stretch questions

All due respect and more to RicM's comments about not being
able to hear the beat rates of chords during musical
performances, but I believe most people actually do on some
level or another. Not neccessarilly in the sense we hear
beats while tuning, perhaps more in the sense that was
common for tuners 150 years ago...before interval tests
replaced the chord colour tests. One didnt count beats...
one listened for chord color ... the general "feel" of the
beating within the chord

That same feel is why we use words like "tense" or "slow
rolling" or the like to describe beat rates in simple
intervals. And we have to have these benchmarks. A major
10th that is tense to the point of being icy on one piano
may sound much less so on another, tho the beat rate of the
lowest coincidents be the same.

While I aggree that ET is difficult, nay impossible to get
just right, (if you take the full definition of ET that is)
it is not in my experience that the variations / errors in
temperament represent the most significant differences in
the tuning styles of accomplished tuners.

RicB