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

[A440A@aol.com]

 Richard writes:

<<   I asked and got told about the Young / Valoti....  and thats
like wayyyy more extreme then this Broadwoods best # 5. That particular BB was
actually a good pass for an ET.<, 

   Actually, the Young temperament only has four thirds that are wider than 
the Broadwood's and some of them are only 1 cent wider, (Db-F is 19 cents 
wide of just vs. the BB's 18,  the F#-A# is 21 vs 18, the B-D# is 19 vs 18, 
and Ab-C is 18 vs 17).  However, the Young is actually more consonant in Eb, 
Bb, C D, and the same in A.  So,  there is not that much difference except at 
the most remote keys.  
 
 >>The responses I got to it immediately made me
think more about Baldwins experiments with the slightly out of tune unisions
more then anything else. And that because of the very different kinds of
responses I got from players about the Y/V.<< 

   I was under the impression that you tried the EBVT and got virtually no 
response, and when you switched to the Broadwoood, many people took notice.  
Was that not what was posted earlier? 

>> well maybe what we all should do is discuss some protocol for checking
folks responses that clearly eliminates any chance of influence from us, and
rules out any other chance of influencing the objectivity of pianists. << 

   I have received more than a few comments from players that wanted to buy 
the Steinway upright I lease to a jazz club.  They all talk about how that 
piano sounds like no other.  I keep it in a Young temperament! 
 
>>And something that can tell us more then that pianists apparently like 
something
other then a clinically perfect ET..... and I am not saying that  we have even
established that much when it comes down to it.<< 
 
In a separate posting, Richard writes: 

>>I have a feeling that Ed's enthusiasm would tend to colour the results 
abit...
tho I would be glad for the chance to evaluate his testing in person.<< 

    When I put one of the Steinway D's (it is the "lesser" piano that is 
otherwise relegated to "only if I have to use it" status) we have on stage in 
a Moore or a Broadwood, it suddenly starts getting used a lot more.  When I 
retuned one of the virtually identical practice room C-2 Yamahas in a 
Broadwood, the sign-up sheet filled up before any of the other ones, (that 
was before I put a notice on the door).  These sorts of "blind" results are 
telling me that pianists react favorably to non-ET, even when they don't know 
the tuning was changed.  When the sum total experiences of those of us that 
have put pianos out in front of techs is considered, we see that the non-ET 
is preferred in an overwhelming percentage of the cases.   
   Dr. Jerry Reed, head of the piano dept at Lipscomb University, had me tune 
the recital hall piano in a Coleman 11.  He told me later that students he 
had worked with all year suddenly began playing far more expressively than he 
had ever seen them play. The students knew nothing about a change of tuning.  
    The evidence seems to continue piling up in a particular direction, does 
it not?  I think it would be great for lots of techs that have the venue to 
put one piano in a Victorian era tuning and see what happens. 
     I can see the desire for absolutely clinical, double-blind testing, but 
that takes time and money.  I personally didn't need the scientific proof of 
anything to find out where my customer's desires were.  All I had to do was 
to give them a choice..... 
Regards, 
 
Ed Foote RPT 
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html