Yes. Pianos. Any piano, tends to sound better from the audience's location than from the bench. I wonder: Is there one temperament that would sound best to the performer, and another tpo the audience 20 or more feet away? Thump --- Richard Moody <remoody@midstatesd.net> wrote: > > > To sum up, I think that different temperaments are > almost > unnoticeable to > > the audience, but they can affect the players > interpretation > because the > > player is more aware of the differently beating > intervals. > > Keith Jones > > Yes that was my first impressions. I remember > clearly when I > played my first HT. It was supposed to be a Young > Vallotti Susan > Cline was mailing to me. I couldn't wait and > tuned a straight > Pythagorean. My first impression was, "wow this > doesn't sound as > different as I imagined". After 10 minutes I was > forgetting I > was playing in a radically different temperament > except when I hit > the wolf. When I tuned the Y-V, I was surprised at > how little > difference I could hear. I began to wonder what > all the fuss was > about. > Some said as you mentioned the thirds were slower > than ET. Well > that is true for some but for all those that are > slower there are > the others that are faster. > Then I tuned Meantone where all the 3rds have no > beat at all > except four. That was the first time I heard a true > difference. > Once again 10 minutes in to playing or practicing I > would forget I > was in Meantone. And of course after playing in > any HT,sooner or > later, you want to hear how ET sounds again. That > kept happening > to me sooner than later. > However I would soon want to tune another HT > especially > Meantone. It was a challenge. I enjoy much more > attempting to > tune an HT rather than attempting to play in it or > listen to it. > I would like to hear a recording in MT without being > told just to > see if I could recognize it is MT. Take the Chopin > A Major Waltz > (#7). The first 3 measures----beautiful. Two of > the last six > measures, "whew". Did Chopin write this for > Meantone? I doubt > it. Did he write it for ET or a WT? We don't > know, he didn't > say. When I practiced this in the Young Vallotti I > hardly > realized I was playing in a different temperament. > So much so I > would like to hear a recording of side by side of > that Waltz in ET > and any of the so called Well Temperaments to see > if they can be > picked out "blind". > There is another aspect of HT's that is > extremely interesting > to me and that is the historical side. I love > research (which is > why I ended up with a degree in history instead of > music, I am a > poor practicer) and researching HT's is fun and > exciting---well, > OK, to me at least. So when I came across the > complete > translation of Pietro Aaron's instructions for > tuning Meantone I > was ecstatic. Being a piano tuner I was able to > attempt it. > Being a student of history I was able to see it in > comparison to > the other modern descriptions of it and tell who was > closer to the > depiction as written by Aaron. Being an amateur > musician I could > practice a few pieces in it. What a dream to go > through the Judy > Collins song book for example. How some parts of > Chopin sound > exquisite in it. I even dared practice some Two > Part Inventions > in MT. > While I like setting the temperaments of HT's it > is a major > chore to tune the rest of the piano. Perhaps I > should have a > harpsichord. Bach was said to tune his harpsichord > in 15 minutes. > What I would really like is a digital keyboard that > has a choice > of temperaments and can be programmed for even more. > But don't > count on the accuracy. Go to you local piano store > and check the > temperaments of the digitals. You might be > surprised. ---ric > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com
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