Temperament selection

[David Love]

The only problem with that argument is that on one hand you are arguing that
a WT piano will seem to have greater sonority than an ET one which I would
attribute to the impact of the keys in which the 3rds are more pure.  Then
you are arguing that listeners will not register a faster third as "out of
tune" until it reaches a certain limit.  While I agree that there is a
window, you can't have it both ways.  If you argue that WTs sound more
sonorous than ET and that people respond to that difference then it is the
slower beating thirds which are responsible for that, even if they are only
slightly more slowly beating.  By the same token it would then stand to
reason that if you played in keys on the backside of the circle of
fifths--those keys with 4 or more sharps and flats--that those keys would
sound less sonorous, which is what I hear.  While the contrast may create a
more unpredictable and therefore interesting palette, I think it can be
misleading to use the sonority argument as there is both greater and lesser
sonority depending on the key.  Also, I find it somewhat contradictory to
say that people can both hear the difference and respond to it but don't
really register the difference at the same time.  

That being said, I do find that WTs offer something interesting and
versatile when not taken too far.

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net 
www.davidlovepianos.com

 


           But really, the question is how much tempering can a third take 
before it becomes a liability rather than an asset.  Few musicians or
listeners 
register a faster third as "out of tune" until it exceeds some limit.  That 
limit is, in some degree, dependant on the listener's expectation.  It is 
amazing how little notice is given to the change of temperament if nothing
is said, 
but how huge a thing it is becomes if somebody becomes intimidated by their 
fear of the unknown.  I haven't really heard music that sounded better in
ET, 
unless it was some 20th century compositions and some jazz,(though, many
jazz 
players and songwriters around here are real happy to play in the WT 
environment. 
Regards, 


Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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