In a message dated 3/13/99 2:05:29 PM Central Standard Time, drose@dlcwest.com writes: << I read your post with great interest. Could you please expand on this particular point? The size of the octave i.e. pure. Pure at *what* partial? 2:1? 4:2? 6:3? 6.No octave should be altered at all from just intonation. (In actual practice on a modern piano, the octave may be widened very slightly from just ((pure)) intonation). Regards, Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.M.T., R.P.T. >> Thank you very much for your reply, interest and question. You will notice that I used the word, "may" in my comment. You have to remember that this is Andres Werkmeister talking here long before there was anything like a modern piano. Octaves were properly thought of as "pure" and that's that. This whole discussion about octaves can really be about as infinite as the one about temperaments. The kind of sound you want from any given octave in any given register of any given piano should be open to judgment and it creates a very large number of possibilities. >From what I have seen you write, you like 2:1 octaves because to you, they seem the "purest". And that is your prerogative. It makes the pianos you tune have that special character that you give them. This is also true of the way I choose to tune with deliberately unequal temperament and tempered octaves. It works for me in my experience and gives the pianos I tune a truly unique sound. What Werkmeister meant to say was that it is not proper to compromise an octave to accommodate another interval. When we widen an octave on a modern piano to adjust for inharmonicity, we have to adjust *all* of the other intervals to compensate for it. You might reason that a more contracted octave would make that easier but I actually prefer working with a high inharmonicity scale like the Steinway has because I feel that I have more to work with. The ET with pure 5ths temperament is easier to do on a Steinway and it is the reason that many really good Steinway tuners tune that way or get close to it. It is naturel for that piano. I came one time to a piano on which the ET with pure 5ths was *attempted*. It was a Yamaha console with moderate inharmonicity. The customer was informed that it was something different. He did not like what was done at all and was not willing to give that technician another chance. I got a call by the luck of the draw. What I encountered was blatantly obvious Reverse Well, not ET with pure 5ths. The customer *loved* my Equal-Beating Victorian and I have been their loyal, every six months tuner ever since. The customer plays advanced classical repertoire. He said that the previous tuning "made all the chords sound wrong and shrill". That technician is well known as one of the finest in the area (it is one of my out of state customers). I'll bet that if he had stuck to regular ET and tuned conservative octaves, he would still be their tuner. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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