[ExamPrep] Temperament (John Formsma)

[A440A at aol.com]

Holly writes:

<<  I thought the point of tuning a temperament via 4ths and 5ths was to

make it easier to get to the contiguous M3s as a finished product - ? >>

Greetings, 
    I don't know if it is easier to "get" the thirds as a finished product, 
but we were taught to use 4ths and fifths with an ever-increasing number of 
checks as we went through the temperament.  These included comparing thirds and 
sixths, adjacent thirds, 7-8-9-10 progression of 3rd-6th-6th-3rd. Cumulative 
error was stopped very quickly by not going beyond any check that didn't work 
out. 
    The bias of either approach, ie, contiguous thirds vs. 4ths and fifths, 
favors either making a perfectly straight progression of thirds or totally 
consistant fifths.  On small pianos, it is often not possible to have both, and 
the tuner must decide which is more important.  In ET, the thirds are so out of 
tune to begin with, I don't remember a customer ever questioning them, but I 
have, on occasion, had a small scale that had a beating fifth when the thirds 
were lined up, and a customer picked it up.  I remember retuning the fifth, 
letting the third beat 'out of order' and they were satisfied.  
       I believe the perfect progression of thirds is something that we 
tuners pay far more attention to than the majority of pianists.  
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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