Cy asks: << Do you always tune "Representative Victorian", or do you pick a different HT based on the piano and its players? I've heard HTs can make spinets, in particular, sound better. >> For introductions, I usually keep the thirds below 18 cents. This means the Moore and Co., Broadwood's Best, or Coleman 11. I used to use the Young, but since that carries a full comma into the F# and 19 cent thirds on the B and C# triads, there were too many instances where this amount of dissonance was too much for the beginner. Now, it is not uncommon for those that were introduced to non-ET with a mild Victorian level of color to become interested in more contrast. A recent customer told me that she was going to be playing almost exclusively Bach for the next year. I suggested a WErckmeister for historical reasons and she had herself an epiphany. She also mentioned that a Ravel piece she occasionally polished up sounded terrible ! Much of my tuning is ET, but that is in the professional venue where the piano is used for everything. ET is a great sounding tuning for late model music, an OK tuning for the late Romantics and a (imho) poverty-stricken intonation for Classical and Baroque. WT's are just the opposite! Even though there are several well-repected jazz artists around here that prefer a Broadwood, I think ET really does shine for a lot of 20th century jazz compositions,(Cole Porter and Bill Evans stuff comes to mind). The whole question is one of taste, and there is no right or wrong when it comes to subjective tastes. However, I do think it is a huge mistake to avoid investigating what other tunings can add to music that was very likely written on them. Regards, Ed Foote RPT http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC