Top Notes of Octaves Sound Flat

[Kent Swafford]

On May 29, 2006, at 10:11 AM, Robert Finley wrote:

> I have noticed that the top notes of octaves sound a little flat in  
> the treble, especially to my ears as a musician. I tuned the piano  
> using the Accutuner SAT III after processing the FAC values. I also  
> checked the octaves aurally using 3rd 10th or 3rd 17th tests and  
> checked the top notes as a 4th or 5th interval with the notes below  
> which sounded fine. What would you recommend? Should I try  
> increasing the width of the octaves slightly by using the double  
> octave beat feature of the SAT and see if that improves the situation?
>
> I read in the January issue of the PTG Journal an interesting  
> article about aural pitch perception by Jim Ellis, when a number of  
> people were asked to decide whether an octave was in tune when the  
> frequency of the top note was set at different values between -30  
> and +100 cents of the in-tune value. Some people thought it was in  
> tune when the top note was slightly sharp, and maybe that is what I  
> am experiencing here.

Yes, this is likely what you are experiencing.

I wrote a Journal article some years ago that attempts to explain how  
to reference the temperament octave all the way to both the top and  
bottom of the scale. It also likened the effort to tune the high  
treble so that it will sound in tune in all situations to alchemy.

It is available online at:

http://tinyurl.com/ensc9

http://www.kentswafford.com/KESPTJ/TemperamentTopBottom.pdf

Kent