Jonathan, You could probably design a large number of ways to check the speed of F - A. I started out practicing, every spare moment, counting the 7 beats per second and using my watch like metronome, thinking that all pianos had to be set to that speed (or, actually 6.92 according to Braid White). Then I learned about variations in inharmonicity affecting that theoretical beat speed considerably. Oh, well, it was still good to know _about_ how fast to set that first interval. Later on, I discovered that, in the temperament sequence I was using, the speed of F - A affected the speed of F# - A#; if the lower M3 was too slow, the upper M3 would automatically beat too fast and vice versa. So then I would adjust the two thirds such that the upper one would beat 1/2 bps faster than the lower one. This adjustment could be done in the 7th step of the 17-step tuning sequence (D3 - F4). In your own case, you might experiment with how a too slow or too fast F - A beat speed affects other intervals and so the subsequent intervals can be used to check the F - A. I have seen different methods which build a framework of contiguous thirds, Baldassin/Sanderson for example, which is very accurate. Once you get the hang of measuring the 5:4 ratio of upper third to lower third, you can set up a whole chain of them, as long as F2 - A4 if you want. Tom Cole YouthPage8@AOL.COM wrote: > > Well, after reading all the mail about 4ths and 5ths and 3rds and 6ths, I am > compromising. I am now starting to use the Coleman A to A temperament in > which you tune pivotal 3rds and then mostly 4ths and 5ths. I am having > trouble with this F-A approx. 7bps thing. I know a lot of aural tuners start > with this interval and I would be curious to know how you learned how to set > this interval. This is probably an extremely stupid question: Why > approximately? How do I know when to set it slightly slower than 7bps? Is > there a solid check to make sure that I have tuned this first interval > correctly? > > Jonathan Hoover -- Thomas A. Cole RPT Santa Cruz, CA
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