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<DIV><< It's<BR>interesting to<BR>see how instruments differ =
or are
the same. Many techs., use violin bridge<BR>fundamentals<BR>to compare =
them to
how piano bridges might work. ? ? ?<BR>Some time ago, there was a =
question
whether guitars, violins were tuned to ET. ?<BR>? ?>></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Yes, both these were discussed last year. =
But to
add another 2 cents, violin bridge principals apply only in a very =
general
sense. The piano bridge is like a long, curved 2" x 2",
whereas the violin bridge is shaped somewhat like a flat, =
skinny,
headless person standing bow-legged with hands almost on hips, but not
touching. The two legs stand on a resonating surface which serves =
as the
violin's "soundboard", I suppose, but the whole body of the violin is a
resonating chamber to a much greater extent than the piano. That =
is, if
the sides and back of the violin were removed, it would sound quite =
different,
whereas when the front and bottom panels of an upright piano are removed =
or the
lid is opened or closed on a grand, the main effect is a difference in =
volume,
not tone. Also the top of the violin is carved from one piece of =
wood, not
made of butted boards glued together and then forced into a crowned =
unit.
The violin bridge is not glued to the top. It's got only 4 strings =
on it,
at quite a low tension compared to piano strings. And then the =
strings are
bowed and occasionally plucked, not hit with felt =
hammers. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> And as for other instruments being tuned it =
E.T., nobody
concerns themselves with it except perhaps harpists and =
harpsichordists.
Almost all the other instruments tune to one note, either A in orchestra =
or B
flat in band. </DIV>
<DIV> The intonation of the other notes is dependent =
on the
player's skill, ear training, sense of pitch, and
experience. The construction of the instrument makes most of =
the other
notes come out "pretty close" if the open note was tuned correctly, =
which makes
a junior high band's attempt at music still recognizable as such, =
even if
the intonation has quite a wide range. But an advanced musician, =
even with
an inferior instrument, plays better in tune.</DIV>
<DIV> String players have to tune =
three other
strings to the first one, but most are taught to tune =
pure-sounding
fifths. They just play two adjacent strings together and tune them =
til the
fifth doesn't beat. They don't bother with 3 beats in 5 seconds or =
whatever. To fine-tune, they'll tune the 2nd partial of the higher =
string
beatless with the 3rd partial of the lower string, using harmonics, but =
the
inharmonicity is nowhere near that of pianos. Intonation of all =
the other
notes is dependent on one's ear and where one puts the fingers down on =
the
fingerboard!</DIV>
<DIV> Guitarists, mandolinists, etc. have it a =
little
easier once the instrument is tuned, since the frets pretty much =
determine the
pitch of a given note. Beginning guitarists used to memorize =
a "My
dog has fleas" pattern of notes in successive fourths, kind of like =
memorizing
the "N-B-C" series of tones (but that was a Major 6th followed by a =
Major 3rd),
but that would get them only so close, plus there was a Major third
involved (the G and B strings). The rest has to be tuned by =
hearing
pure fourths and making the one Major third unobjectionable, then trying =
various
chords to look for any strings that are "out of bounds," and making
adjustments. </DIV>
<DIV> But now most of them just go out and buy an =
electronic
tuner. (And if they own a piano, will use it when you're done =
tuning, to
check your work, not knowing anything about octave stretch or
inharmonicity). But many of them also use partials, or harmonics =
(which
are almost the same thing on low-tension strings) to compare one string =
with
another and fine-tune. E.T. comes into play a tiny bit but large =
errors
are not as glaring as on a piano. </DIV>
<DIV> But on the harp, there are many strings to tune =
and most
harpists tune their own instrument, setting a temperament and tuning =
octaves
from it. I don't know the exact sequence, but they're probably the =
only
ones of all orchestral players who are concerning themselves with =
anything
resembling a temperament, equal or otherwise.</DIV>
<DIV> I've tuned in school band rooms and have gone =
over to
the marimba or vibes or large xylophone (actually "metallophone", =
since
it's metal, not wood ("Xylo" is Greek for wood; the marimba is really =
the
"xylo"-phone) to see if they're tuned in equal temperament. I =
can't tell
-- either they don't sustain long enough or there's no =
inharmonicity or the
partials aren't strong enough to hear beating thirds, sixths, etc. =
I think
I did hear the thirds beat on a vibraphone once, but would have to try =
it again
to be sure. </DIV>
<DIV> Woops, that was more like 200 cents. =
--David
Nereson, RPT, Denver</DIV></BODY></HTML>