Nice Chord

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 9/21/00 8:34:17 AM Central Daylight Time, 
Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no (Richard Brekne) writes:

<< Hi folks.. Dinking around the other day I noticed a nice sounding chord 
that
 resulted from tuning completely "wrong"...grin. I had started my usual A3-A4
 temperament and got as far as F# and this was really flat to begin with. So 
flat
 that the A-F# 6th was beating at about 2 beats per second. Playing 
A-D-F#-A(4)
 yeilded then a "D Major" that was really pretty to listen to indeed.
  >>

Thanks, Richard,

While there is a lot more to it than this, you have discovered the essence.  
You just can't get the same experience tuning by numbers.  A couple of weeks 
ago, someone wrote about how extreme a 1/6 Comma Meantone sounded when put on 
a piano.  I have some news for that person, a 1/6 Comma Meantone does not in 
any way match the description of what was written.  It is, in fact, a fairly 
mild temperament, excellent for Mozart and Beethoven, a bit much for Chopin, 
yes, but not to the degree that was written.

Once, someone who has developed an elaborate electronic tuning method asked 
me if a certain figure was correct for 1/4 Comma Meantone.  The figure he had 
was  -10 cents rather than +10 cents.  The same person told me that he had no 
way of knowing the difference nor any understanding of it.

The primary danger in using these kinds of methods for tuning HT's is 
programming error.  Secondly, to rely only on sets of figures does not give 
the tuner any experience in what the effects of a temperament are supposed to 
be.  It would be easy, for example, for someone to write about a 1/6 Comma 
Meantone when actually, a 1/4 Comma had been tuned.  There is a really big 
difference but to someone who merely dials in the numbers, there is apt to be 
not much more than confusion or bewilderment, especially if an undetected 
error in programming was made.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, tuning by the numbers is the 
easiest way for an ET tuner to "discover" that any HT sounds "wrong" and to 
go running back forever to the "safety" of ET.  Too bad that the "ET" that is 
being embraced really isn't ET, it probably is a backwards version of what 
might be a really good temperament if that person only took the time and 
effort to really learn and understand what temperament and octave tuning can 
be.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin