what's with the new temperaments?(x post)

Ron Koval drwoodwind@hotmail.com
Wed, 05 Mar 2003 19:35:38 +0000


ricM and then Ron (one of the other ones) wrote:


>Are people who are tone deaf and color blind  to be
>type cast as "naysayers" also?

No, but they are presumably afraid to hear tone and see color, and are
limiting their development as hearers and seers by their fear.

Ron N
<end>

Well, dangitall!  I had really hoped to avoid the name-calling this time 
around.  Kindof a catch-22 here; don't want to sell alternate temperaments 
'till folks ask for them / folks won't ask for them, 'cause they don't know 
about them......

At this point,  what I'm suggesting, is limited to the "gear heads", those 
tuners that can trust a machine. It also helps if you can play some piano, 
hopefully a few things is some different keys.  I really think that if we 
listen to new temperaments with a technician's ear (in a chromatic order) 
we'll miss how they work with music.  A quick test is to play block triads 
around the circle of fifths while listening for the rise and fall of 
dissonence.

You see, I'm working backwards from the historical form.  Traditionally, 
(aurally) people worked from pure intervals to tempered.  That is, hear 
something pure, and then temper in the right direction by a certain amount.

Now, I'm going from the direction of equal temperament. (So is anyone else 
suggesting using offsets)  The assumption is that somehow, you can get to a 
REAL close approximation of ET.  Then the offsets placed into the machine 
alter the ET to give you something else.  With the spreadsheets we're 
playing with, very small changes to the offsets can make profound 
differences in the ratios that we're tracking.  Now I know, at some point, 
we surpass the resolution of the tuner, the piano, and the reality of stable 
environments, but I like to think that the target I'm aiming for is 
true.....  So, the whole number offsets that Ed posted trouble me, but let's 
go with them.

Oh, to ricM, The Broadwood's Best (Ellis #4) can be viewed at Jason Kanter's 
site:
http://www.rollingball.com/TemperamentsFrames.htm

under the Victorian Well link.  I understand how confusing this is, with 
many temperaments sharing similar names....  Just so we can be on the same 
page.

Pretty much any temperament that keeps the major thirds in the remote keys 
under 17 cents, can fly "under the radar", and be safely tried on just about 
any piano. (Avoid vocal studios, and choir rooms)  The Broadwood pushes up 
to 17.7 cents.  This seems to be the most sensitive range for newcomers; the 
17-18 cent range, so people should notice that something is different.

RicB, I don't have any real matching pianos in studios at the college, but I 
may give it a try on a Stwy B and a Yamaha C3 side by side.  I'll let you 
know the feedback I get......

Ron Koval










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