----- Original Message ----- From: Keith Roberts <kpiano@goldrush.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 10:13 AM Subject: Re: Stretch Vs.Temperament, (was Beat Rates) > On the unisons, Virgil tuned them as he went. They had to be as pure as > driven snow in order to hear the difference in the beat rates of the > intervals. He did this because he showed the class that one string played by > itself was slightly sharper in pitch than two strings (both tuned perfectly > to each other) played together. Dr. Sanderson determined the reason. > Keith R > Was this the Chicago classes? What was the reason as determined by Dr, Sanderson? (I did not attend his class. ) The 3 classes in Chicago were put together for this (to prove one string sharper in pitch than three) but when Virgil demonstrated it and asked for a show of hands on who couldn't hear it, mine went up. A fellow in front of me said he couldn't hear the difference because the unison sounded to him off. I might have quibbled with that particular unison and was surprised more didn't quibble but still I heard the beats. They were the same.... to my ear.... As far as the single string being sharp to the 3 string unison I have done experiments on pianos here and in no cases did I find it to be true and in one case it was the opposite. This is all aural. When Robert Scott presented his TuneLab for a free period on the internet I checked it out and found some notes register in tune, then go sharp when decaying. But some go flat when decaying. And then some go sharp and then flat when decaying. So it was hard to use that as a determination that one string was flat to two strings or three strings in unison, in short the display was too inconsistent. Now if this effect wants to be tested by ear, there are some simple tests to prove it. First let the subjects tell whether they hear a one string unison , a two string unison or a three string unison. Then let them hear the beat rate of one string compared to one sting, then one string compared to two strings then one string compared to three strings. If there is an aural difference then all or most of the subjects should hear it. AND the difference could be demonstrated to bystanders, or interested observers, but that comes after the experiments. So lets experiment. ---ric m
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