[pianotech] Stealth temperaments

[Dean May]

Slam dunk, score. 

 

Ed your explanations in the past re: WT more than any other persuaded me to
take the plunge. I've been tuning almost exclusively in WT now for around 3
years. I love it. Please do not get tired of making the case, curmudgeon
factor aside. :-)

 

Dean

Dean W May                        (812) 235-5272 voice and text

PianoRebuilders.com           (888) DEAN-MAY         

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  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ed Foote
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 1:23 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Stealth temperaments

 

Joseph writes: 
>> have to point out that you are describing just the kind of "noise" that
experimental designs seek to factor out. Selective responses, non-random
assignment, selective attention, selective memory of what certain people
have said <snip>. You've tipped your hand by saying, "makes me wonder if
some pianists even listen . . . " - there you go presuming your point has
already been proven (i.e. that there is a real difference in these tunings)
And you are relying on anecdote, which in a fair setting is never acceptable
as evidence.<<

 

      In the liner notes of one of my CD's, the pianist, Enid Katahn, states
that  pianists seldom have time to actually listen. Before her introduction
to WT, she has said there was little reason to pay any attention to the
tuning, "because it was beyond my control and it all sounded the same".
This is an artist talking about the experience of playing.  I didn't
question it.  

        If, for some reason, you are making the case that there isn't a real
difference between a Young temperament and ET, then we have a completely
different discussion needed before we go any further. 

 

>>In re: the D tuning: the fact that you told " . . .(no one but) the
artist" completely contaminates the results. Do you think what you told the
artist could not have affected the way he performed, and hence the way the
rest of the orchestra  might have played?!

 

     The artist was familiar with a wide range of temperaments, and
informing her of which one was on the piano was no more than a pit crew
member telling the race driver how much air pressure there is in the tires.
The orchestra was students, with all their malleable grasp of pitch,  and
had been practicing with another piano, in ET, during the previous week.  I
can't explain why their intonation with the WT  impressed their conductor,
but who would deny the plausibility of a tonal center assisting the string
players in their playing?  

 

>> And you're right, there are too many variables and too much subjectivity
involved in these matters to corral it into the realm of true scientific
study. But that doesn't mean you are left free to assert that your
unscientific samples and anecdotes are corroborative of any theory whatever
!<< 

 

     If the  only evidence that is acceptable for making decisions on which
temperament to use is to come from a laboratory setting, I think we would
still be using meantone.  I have asserted my theory that the choice of
temperament is a factor in the emotional impact of piano music.  I am
particularly interested in any scientific evidence that refutes that, but I
haven't seen it happen, yet.  I have seen masses of critical listeners
compare the sound of two identical pianos, tuned with identical stretches,
differing only in temperament.  The overwhelming preference has been for the
WT, and it was a mild one, at that. I don't discount this response simply
because I lack scientific evidence that it is not clinically "clean".  

     

"My piano has never sounded so good" is indeed a welcome response, and
personally I am glad to try and sell that experience. I don't kid myself,
however, into thinking there might not be about a hundred reasons they might
have said that . . . or truly believed that . . . "

 

     I have heard that from many customers that have had me tune for them
for years.  When the only thing to change is the temperament, and they start
gushing, I look for the linkage.   Most of them are professionals, either
studio musicians, teachers, performers, or song-writers, (Nashville is
infested with song-writers). They are not paying attention to much other
than what the piano sounds like.  Many of them have extremely well developed
ears for everything musical so smoke and mirrors don't go very far with this
crowd. ( and I don't think my sparkling personality makes the difference.)

 

>>Are you certain you heard that "never sounded so good" statement with
greater frequency after you switched over?<<

 

yes, see above

 

>>Could it be that your customer relationships and reputation are simply
getting better, and so people say more nice things about your work??<<

 

     I had been in Nashville, following my time at the North Bennett school,
for 17 years before I began to explore the alternative tunings.  I think the
town was pretty used to me by that time.  And now, by this stage of the
game, the curmudgeon index has begun to rise and I am simply trying to stay
in front of the downward spiral. 

 

>>In re your final comment: maybe your tunings just got BETTER (more stable,
more accurate, more consistent, better fitted to the instrument at hand)
IRRESPECTIVE of whether you used an ET or not ? <<

 

   By 1993, my tunings had been well honed in the recording studios and
concert stages here.  In all honesty, I was probably a better tuner then,
but  to my ears, the difference between ET and a WT is sufficiently
profound to dwarf the difference between my tuning then and now.

             Yes, I have made an assertion on what I believe the value of
well-tempering to be.  It is based on what I hear from the piano, and from
the customers that are paying me top dollar, (and have for the last 33
years).   In the absence of scientific evidence to the contrary, the lack of
scientific evidence supporting this assertion is scant reason to believe
otherwise.

Regards,

       

 Ed Foote RPT

http://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/index.html 

 

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