temperaments:clear as mud?

[David Love]

Might be called synesthesia???  Also referred to as cross modal perception
in psychology, where people perceive certain tones or keys as having color
associations.  I do have a customer with absolute pitch who claims that
certain keys have certain qualities, but they seem to be more tactile types
of qualities, squishy, heavy, etc..  Her associations seem to be
irrespective of temperament.

David Love

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Koval" <drwoodwind@hotmail.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: October 31, 2001 4:21 PM
Subject: temperaments:clear as mud?


> OK everyone,
>
> Here's a new angle I haven't heard before.  In my spreadsheed meanderings,
> I've come across a simple fact that might possibly add a whole new
dimension
> to the ET/HT discussion.
>
> It is said that ET has no key color, that all the thirds are the same,
while
> optomizing temperaments have key color because there are differing widths
to
> the thirds.  There are a few people out there that claim to hear key color
> in ET.  This can't be possible if all the thirds are the same, can it?
>
> I've spent a fair amount of time graphing many different temperaments, and
> then setting them on pianos and comparing what the graphs predict, verses
> what I hear.  The graphs are a very seductive tool, with their nice bell
> shaped, inverted V's, all seeming to fit in a circle of fifths order.
> However, most temperaments don't 'play' quite as predicted.  Take the
Thomas
> Moore temperament, which I use as an introduction quite often.  It has a
few
> keys that are closer than pure and then most keys are predicted to be
evenly
> less pure. When tuned, however, the third Ab-C SOUNDS less pure than the
> thirds that are supposed to match, according to the graphs.
>
> Soooo..... What is it that we hear?  Oh yeah, those beat thingys!  Think
for
> a moment about ET.  Does it sound equal?  Not likely.  Take our 'landmark'
> F-A third of around 7 beats/second.  What's the beat rate an octave
higher?
> Yup, around 14 beats/second.  So the thirds in the keys are NOT the same,
> they progress in a chromatic fashon from really slow in the bass to really
> fast in the high treble, doubling every octave.  Go up, the energy
> increases, go down the energy decreases.
>
> An optomizing temperament changes this equation.  Remember Bill Bremmers
> directions for EBVT?  In one octave the F, G, and C major thirds all beat
> THE SAME.  Bb and A thirds beat THE SAME. Gb and Ab beat THE SAME.
>
> Only by using an optomizing temperament can you get equality, sameness, or
> chords that match.  ET only gives us varying thirds.  There is NO equality
> to beats (sound, tension, etc) in equal temperament, only equal
differences
> between beat rates of equal steps.
>
> (picture the end of Soylent Green: "THERE IS NO EQUALITY IN EQUAL
> TEMPERAMENT!")
>
> Hmmmmmmmm......
>
> more to chew on.
>
> Ron Koval
> Chicagoland
> (Yes, I've been graphing predicted beat rates, yes, it's confusing and
> interesting at the same time!)
>
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