>David, if you are interested in what a basic WT sounds like, I suggest you >try this, you should be able to do it easily. Now, as for the octaves, you >won't be able to use the method you use for ET and although I may be >challenged on this, I suggest you use the method found in my website called >"Tempered Octaves". It is also an EB method and so easy as to be >"mindless". > When I tuned the Thomas Young temperament for Owen Jorgensen at the >Convention in Dearborn, he specified the octaves have "optimum stretch". I >took that to mean what I do because that is what I consider it to be, >*optimum*. When I asked him how they sounded after his performance, he >proclaimed they "sounded *perfect*." > >Bill Bremmer RPT Thank you, Bill, for your effort. I'm fascinatd by this, and i will try it. If I have problems---and I may, because I'm a kinesthetic learner---it would be 100 times easier for me to watch you do it than to read instructions---I'l let you know. David A. >In a message dated 12/28/02 1:55:10 AM Central Standard Time, bigda@gte.net >writes: > > >> >19. Flatten E4 until the A3-E4 4th and the B3-E4 4th beat exactly the >> same. >> >> Bill----do you mean "....until the A3-E4 5th...." instead of what's >> written above? >> >> David A. >> _______________________________________________ >> > >Yes, thanks for the correction. Whenever I write up instructions like >these, >my eyes start to glaze over. It's much easier to just do it than it is to >write it down. I have a WordPad Document with this on file. I'll make the >correction immediately. My apprentice is coming over this morning to >practice it. When I am sure about the whole thing, I'll place it on my >website. > >As Jim Coleman and others who teach tuning have suggested, I taught unisons >first. He practiced for months just cleaning up unisons. Then, he learned >how to tune what sound like "pure" octaves. He is now at the point where he >can tune "pure" 4ths and 5ths. > >This scheme I have developed is taken from an idea which I understand to be >the highest refinement in temperament construction although in my opinion, >it >seems to be the very most elementary, the most foolproof. Almost any other >verbal instructions provide you with figures, beat speeds which are >compound >numbers. It is virtually impossible to know whether or not what you have is >correct and even if you could determine it to be so, an adjustment for >inharmonicity has not been made. > >The Equal Beating (EB) method is quite different. Pure 4ths & 5ths are very >easy to hear when they sound perfectly still. There remains an Equal >Beating >test for each of these to further prove their correctness. I have not put >these tests in my instructions because I did not want to clutter up what are >otherwise very clear and easy to understand instructions. The other EB >instructions use the actual inharmonicity properties which the piano has to >determine the final results. This minimizes the subjectivity a tuner may >put >into it. > >Even the EB test for a 6:3 octave is superfluous. A 4:2 or a compromise >between a 4:2 and a 6:3 could be used, as is recommended for ET but I >recommend a 6:3 in this case for the best results. > >One writer said that the C4 must be tuned exactly where it will end up being >for the test to work. This is not quite true. It must be in a *convenient* >place. A minor 3rd is a narrowed interval (and a Major 6th, a widened >one). >When fine tuning an octave's width using a note either within it or outside >of it, the interval must be tempered properly but need not and may is best >not tuned exactly as it will end up. One may actually (and should) adjust >the interval's speed so that a clear distinction between the two test >intervals may be heard. If the beat speed is too slow, the distinction may >not be heard, likewise if it is too fast. > >I'm still looking for an answer to my two questions, one of which I think I >already know. 1. If F3-A3 beats at 4 beats per second and C4 is tuned pure >to F3, what is the beat speed of the minor 3rd, A3-C4? 2. According to my >scheme, what will be the speed of the final resultant 3rd, C4-E4? > >In Jorgensen's book, Tuning, the Thomas Young has F3-A3 at 3.8 and G3-B3 at >4.3 (theoretically). Both may be expected to be slightly faster when >adjusted for inharmonicity but I have pegged both at exactly 4.0 beats per >second. I think this may result in the C4-E4 3rd being slightly slower than >the 4.1 which Jorgensen lists. Each time I have tuned it, that interval has >ended up a little slower than the F3-A3 and the G3-B3, not the same or >nearly >the same. > >This would be acceptable, of course and still leaves the temperament >matching >the description of a "representative" 18th Century style Well Tempered >Tuning, perhaps as close to the Thomas Young as one might be able to produce >aurally using any other method. > >David, if you are interested in what a basic WT sounds like, I suggest you >try this, you should be able to do it easily. Now, as for the octaves, you >won't be able to use the method you use for ET and although I may be >challenged on this, I suggest you use the method found in my website called >"Tempered Octaves". It is also an EB method and so easy as to be >"mindless". > When I tuned the Thomas Young temperament for Owen Jorgensen at the >Convention in Dearborn, he specified the octaves have "optimum stretch". I >took that to mean what I do because that is what I consider it to be, >*optimum*. When I asked him how they sounded after his performance, he >proclaimed they "sounded *perfect*." > >Bill Bremmer RPT
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