Temperaments (the pianos', not the technicians')

[Howard S. Rosen]

Hi Ralph,

You lost me on this post. When you say

>I like very little movement in
> my 5ths and this way I can control them. 

Do you mean your 5ths are near perfect (just)? If so, then

>They my be faster than theory calls for

They should be *slower* than theory calls for. What am I missing
here???????

Sincerely,
Howard S. Rosen, RPT
Boynton Beach, Florida



----------
> From: ralph m martin <rmartin30@juno.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: Temperaments (the pianos', not the technicians')
> Date: Sunday, February 01, 1998 2:07 PM
> 
> Hi Mark
> I'm one of those old duffs who started with 4ths and 5ths theme and just
> this year, returned to it. The reason?...I like very little movement in
> my 5ths and this way I can control them. I always check with 3rds after
> and Rarely have to move anything. They my be faster than theory calls for
> but they ascend properly.
> 
> I know...you can't teach an old dog new tricks!
> Ralph Martin
> 
> On Sun, 1 Feb 1998 10:21:55 -0500 (EST) Mark Graham <magraham@bw.edu>
> writes:
> >I learned tuning at the Perkins School in Elyria, Ohio, in the 70's. 
> >It
> >was a unique place, an old YMCA full of pianos. There was a gym and a
> >pool, and more dorm rooms that were ever needed. We learned to set
> >temperaments by 4ths and 5ths. If you paid for the "concert tuning"
> >course, you learned about 3rds. I don't recall 6ths being mentioned. 
> >Most
> >of the good technicians from that school (and there are plenty on this
> >list) ended up learning about the fine points of temperaments on their
> >own.
> >
> >I lived in Elyria, but many of the students lived in the building. One 
> >day
> >I was eating lunch with them in the big communal kitchen, and a woman
> >named Sue went over to a diassembled upright in the hall and played 
> >some
> >chords. I remember her exclaiming "Sweet!", and I remember all of us
> >raising our heads and cocking an ear in that direction. She played 
> >some
> >more, high, low, close, open, and it really was an uncommonly 
> >attractive
> >sound, clear on some chords, complex on others. We all noticed it.
> >
> >Upon checking the temperament, it became clear that it wasn't perfect 
> >(ET
> >being what we called perfect). Twenty years later, I realize that what 
> >we
> >were hearing was a piano which a student had tuned in our 
> >approximation of
> >ET, but which had slipped into a not-ET well temperament of some 
> >mongrel
> >variety. We were so used to hearing one temperament, hour after hour, 
> >that
> >a different temperament seemed like a doorway to different music.
> >
> >And that is how I regard temperaments now. I always attempt ET, 
> >because
> >even for our Bach festival, that is what is specified. (We have an
> >excellent harpsichordist who requests Valotti-Young at A 415 for her
> >personal teaching harpsichord, but other than her, our very correct 
> >Bach
> >experts here are completely unaccustomed to other temperaments.) At 
> >home,
> >though, and on the pianos of some teachers who I know play almost
> >exclusively Romantic repertoirs, I tune various temperaments, and 
> >savor
> >the results like you would savor a fine meal. There are always lovely
> >surprises in store, and sour chords happen, but only very, very 
> >rarely.
> >It's amazing how broad a range our ears will accept.
> >
> >I do know that when I set ET on a piano using a temperament strip, 
> >where
> >the piano is pretty out-of-tune, and then tune the unisons, when I 
> >check
> >the temperament, it often no longer is ET. I suppose those of you who
> >always do two-pass tunings would eliminate this "problem", but I find 
> >most
> >people don't care, and the results are interesting and not at all
> >offensive.
> >
> >When you're talking about temperaments, there are many paths to 
> >beauty.
> >The older I get, the more I am willing to accept and appreciate any
> >reasonable temperament that comes along. That applies to piano
> >temperaments, and people temperaments.
> >
> >When I was working at the Perkins School painting walls, I once 
> >jokingly
> >said that I was going to paint a mural of Moses receiving the Equal
> >Temperament on Mt. Sinai. 20 years later, I know more than ever that 
> >that
> >is only a joke.
> >
> >Mark Graham
> >Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music
> >Berea, Ohio
> >
> >
> 
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