May the 4ths be with you

[JStan40@AOL.COM]

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
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

RicM already knows about all this, but I thought I'd post my impressions to 
the List on this matter.  A year ago I was storing (well, borrowing, I 
suppose) a small spinet harpsichord while the department I worked in was 
undergoing renovation of the HVAC system.  During that summer I spent 
considerable time tuning and playing that little instrument.  I kept the 
Pietro Aaron MT on it for most of that time, based on the bearing plan from 
Jorgensen's little book.  To echo Ric's statement, I, too, spent time playing 
the 2-Part Inventions of Bach, surmising that he might well have written them 
for an instrument likely tuned in MT (the WTC was specifically designed for 
some sort of WT, which would have been quite different, I think).  What 
struck me was how usable the MT was for this music, and in looking at it from 
a Music Theory teacher's perspective, I saw that the Inventions which were in 
the more remote keys were also carefully written--not to eliminate the wolf, 
which would obviously not be possible, but to minimize its effect.  Had I the 
same kind of historian's bent that Ric has, and had I had more time to 
experiment and research, I would like to have done a more rigorous 
theoretical study of the 2-Part Inventions, with the premise that they were 
written with MT in mind, and how that affected the manner in which they were 
written.  From a rather cursory inspection, it seemed that good ole JSB had 
very neatly circumvented many of the problems associated with MT, but I'd 
really have to spend a lot more time than I had in order to nail it down.  So 
it remains an impression--but it was quite a strong one on me!

Regards!

Stan Ryberg
Barrington IL
Associate Member
mailto:jstan40@aol.com

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/a1/ea/06/34/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--