what's with the new temperaments?(x post)

[A440A@aol.com]

Ron wrote:
<< > What's wrong with the old temperaments?

> They are the best efforts of technicians and theorists of the

time, created > with the available tools.


Greetings, 
   While I don't think there is anything "wrong" with any temperament,  I 
certainly believe that relying on any one of them for everything is to miss 
out on a lot of beauty.  As technicians, we constantly decide what is worth 
the effort and what is not, and since value means different things to each of 
us, and there is no one answer.  Be that as it may, I think we all owe a huge 
debt to Owen Jorgensen for supplying the tools necessary to open doors to 
which many of us would have otherwise been oblivious. He provides a map and 
the means to navigate. 
   One value of the "old" temperaments is that they represent various 
arrangements of tonal color that the composers could plausibly have been 
using, and writing for.  So, even if a modern temperament appears to have 
superior qualities, it may not more accurately recreate the composers in
tentions.  We may have "better" pigments than artists of yore, but they 
doesn't necessarily improve the art.   Given that the use of a modern piano 
rather than a fortepiano changes things in and of itself, we still should 
consider the relative palettes of the composer's eras at least as a starting 
point.  Comparing the musical results between tunings, both old and new, is 
the only real way to create an informed opinion.    
     This sort of adventure is not for everyone, but it needn't be dangerous 
for those that wish to explore.  In return for the effort, using a variety of 
temperaments can undo burn-out, create epiphanies in our customers, add an 
exciting facet to our professional offerings, as well as lend a competitive 
advantage to the tuners intrepid enough to take some risk. Even if a tech 
decides that they don't like the sound of non-ET,  after the experience, they 
will ususally hear the familiar ET with a new perspective.  I know that I 
sure did.  In fact, I will say that after 15 years of tuning ET,  I didn't 
really appreciate what its actual sound was until I had become familiar with 
the alternatives.  Risks and gains are proportional, that has been proven 
time and again.  
    Finding a tuning that avoids creating problems (such as ET has done for 
at least a century) is not necessarily the same thing as finding a tuning 
which maximizes the musical experience.  While the former may be the easiest 
way to ply ones trade, in light of recent research, experimentation, and 
results, it can no longer claim superiority in all situations.  So, if one is 
seeking maximum performance, I submit that a more productive direction is not 
in seeking ever finer degrees of equality, but rather, matching contrast 
(inequality) to the music in such a way as to create the greatest emotional 
response in the educated listener.   Too much contrast is counter-productive, 
and will create barriers, so it behooves the pioneer to err on the side of 
caution as they progress.  It is easy to go farther, later, but almost 
impossible to reclaim the pianist that is offended by a change.  
    The new temperaments by B. Wendell and R. Koval are valuable in their 
ability to improve upon ET in widening  areas of music.  (Any progress in 
temperament design can be used to benefit our understanding of what works 
best for a given situation. )  I have been listening to the Wendell Natural 
on a Steinway A and it certainly has a sound of its own.  Many customers 
wouldn't notice that it was not ET, but any tech certainly would.  I won't 
characterize it from a technician's standpoint, but will wait until I can get 
some pianists to critique its effect on the music, which is, imo, a more 
valid test than a tuner's take on temperament. (apologies for awful 
alliteration). 
   It may be of some interest that Emanuel Ax recently gave a masterclass 
here at Vanderbilt.  He was using a Steinway D tuned in the Broadwood's best, 
the students were using another D in ET.  He was unaware that the pianos were 
tuned differently, even after the same passages back to back.  The head of 
the piano dept, who did know that I had tuned them differently, told me that 
he couldn't tell a difference.   It just makes me wonder how important it 
really is to get all those thirds rising exactly the same.  I do believe the 
pianists, if not sensitized to the tempering, don't register more than 
octaves and unisons!  
 
    However, that isn't really what I wanted to post, here, so back to the 
original reason:  
When  R. Moody replies: 
>>  Which "best efforts"?  The best way (imho) to understand them

is to  and examine in detail how and why these temperaments were

created.  >>

    Perhaps, but I prefer to understand the temperaments by how the musicians 
and listeners react to them.  Much as I think the best way to understand a 
banana is not to examine how to grow it, but rather, to eat one!  So, I think 
a better understanding comes from playing music on them,(temperaments, not 
bananas!) and comparing differing sounds and their effect on the music, 
itself.   
     The best feedback comes when nothing is said before the listening, and 
the responses are  based strictly on what was heard. This lets me know when 
the tuning goes "overboard" and creates,with its contrast, an interruption in 
the musical flow.   If the thread of emotional involvement is broken, the 
damage is done(which is what happens when a wrong note jars us out of our 
reverie).  When that happens, I believe that I went too far from the 
familiar. 
     With audiences unfamiliar with non-ET tuning,  it doesn't take much more 
than a 17 cent third to cause notice, but with those that have listened to a 
lot of "Broadwood strength",  the intensity of a Kirnberger or WErckmeister 
can be more often be appreciated.   I think this is where the techs' 
experience really becomes valuable, in knowing what is appropriate not only 
for the music, but the listeners involved, as well.  For me, that is the most 
important thing in understanding temperaments, ie, how to use them to 
maximize the musical experience.  And let's not forget that changing the t
emperament will cause the educated pianist to change how they interpret the 
music, which is a huge factor in the final result, as well. 
 
Ed Foote RPT 
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html