<html> Richard, I have taught a technical seminar on this very subject, called "The Sound of your Tuning."  I tune 2 matched grand pianos with widely different stretches, and demonstrate the affect this has on the sound of the tuning overall. It is my contention that the octave stretch style used has a much larger affect on the sound of the piano than the often subtle differences between temperaments.  The difference between  sloppy equal temperament and a careful equal temperament is rather hard to hear when playing music, but the difference between wide octaves and narrow ones is quite noticeable. I do use different octave tunings depending on the situation and use and, to some degree, the tastes of the pianist.  I tune for some pianists who like a more aggressive sound from the piano that a wide tuning gives, while I have had others specifically complement me for the "warm" sound of my tuning, after having done my preferred narrower tuning style. Don Mannino RPT At 07:25 PM 8/5/2002 +0200, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Hi folks I know this subject has come up relative to the use of historical temperaments before, but I am curious about how the amount of stretch in an ET tuning can be / is conciously employed as a part of the music played. I think is generally aggreed upon the the more stretch in general there is, the more tense the general sound of the tuning is. Clearly a Moonlight Sonata played on a fine instrument tuned with a lot of stretch imployed based on a wide 6:3 temperament octave is going to sound different then the same piece played on the same instrument where the temperment and stretch are very compressed. Perhaps it is possible to colour a musical piece through the general tenseness of the tuning ? I wonder also if anyone uses this technique as a voicing tool. I find that the more tense (stretched) the instrument is, the more is takes on a hard like character, and the more compressed the tuning the more roundlike and mellow the instrument sounds. I get the feeling most tuners learn one style of stretch and rarely change that. How many of you place any value on the the ability to adjust stretch in relation to the two above criteria, even when your own basic taste for stretch is at odds with these ? Thanks for your thoughts. RicB </blockquote></html>