---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Jeff, I don't know enough about all this to really get involved in the discussion currently going on, but I would like to make a couple of comments. >I tried an HT last semester for a rehearsal for a performance of a Haydn >piece using a fortepiano. I didn't really know where to go to find out >which HT to use, so I consulted our Music Theory Prof, who is also our >historical keyboard specialist. I didn't get the feeling he knew which >would be best either, but he suggested the Valotti, so that's what I used. >The piece was in D and Valotti is supposed to work in D. We have a Fortepiano currently being built, so your comments interested me. I "hope" to be able to always use an HT on it but probably won't be able to. I did use the Young #1 for a Mozart piano concerto several years ago. The only people who knew about it were the pianist, conductor and a few faculty members. The pianist took a while to get used to it but by the time it was all over, she liked it. She's never used one before, so I pushed kind of hard to get her to try it and even offered to get some extra time in the hall if she decided she wanted to do it. Of course, I think that kind of helped some. :-) Most of my HT tunings are done on a harpsichord, which is normally kept in an HT of some kind. It's rare for me to have to tune an ET on those. For a long time, the Prinz was the normal one. At Owen's suggestion, I even used that for a performance of the Messiah. I've also used the Coleman II for a faculty cello with harpsichord recital. Currently, I'm using the EBVT temperament offsets that Owen worked out and our early music/harpsichord guy likes it. He thinks it's very mild. Of course, he also had me do a Meantone once for a particular early music concert. :-) >Well, I later learned that the ensemble had a very difficult time with >intonation, This, I guess, is the main reason I'm writing. As you know, an orchestra doesn't really play in ET, left to it's own devices. Only when a keyboard is used, basically and the festival orchestra for the concerto had no problem at all with that. Whatever tuning differences that might have come up, the orchestra just adjusted to it and went right on. I'm not sure which would be considered the stronger of the two (Valotti or Young) but I don't understand why they had such a hard time. Maybe I'm missing something but it seems like a mild WT would work well with any music of that period. Even with people who aren't used to it. I don't think I've ever used a Valotti but will play with it when I get a chance. Just out of curiosity. A week or so ago, I had a chance to tune an HT for Enid Katahn (Ed's CD collaborator) for a guest recital here for which she was accompanying a singer in an all French music recital. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. There was a Master Class prior to the recital and I hesitated to use an HT for pianists who weren't used to it. They're under a lot of pressure already and for some, that might have added more. But the primary reason I didn't is that Enid and I decided that, given the time frame, it would be more profitable to do some voicing that I hadn't been able to get to prior to all that, rather than retuning to the HT. Maybe another opportunity will come up sometime soon. >Now this argument that historical temperaments "sound better" is just a >little too much to swallow. In what key do they sound better? Wasn't the >discovery of theoretical ET a watershed which allows for total movement >throughout the keys without the ugly changes in intonation? (which some >refer to as "color") And if your professors are telling you to just >"stick with ET"... I really don't think "sound better" is what's usually meant. At least not the way most people think of something "sounding better". The "color" would be more accurate, I guess. The way I understand it is that composers "back then" used the various changes in key color to build calm, tension, excitement, whatever into their music by starting with a particular key suitable to what they wanted to hear and modulating to and from various keys to achieve that. Maybe this is too simplistic but that's where I am at this point. (Be gentle, Ed & Ron!) :-) >So, perhaps it is fear. Perhaps it is ignorance, which I certainly admit. >But it looks to me like its exponentially larger than the proponents of >using HTs are trying to make it sound. I just don't think it is as simple >as being able to offer the 14 temperaments installed on my SAT III. No, it probably isn't that simple. Even when using an ETD, one "should" be able to know what to check aurally to verify that one is actually getting the temperament and tuning correct. That is where some time and study come in. But as Ed said in a previous post, most tuners with an ETD just use the offsets and put it on top of the tuning in the machine. Hopefully, it's a "tweaked" tuning, though, to smooth out any inconsistencies in the ET, which really means it needs to be tuned in ET, improved aurally as much as possible and then stored in memory before the offsets are added in. At least that's what I try to do. >If someone requests a temp other than ET, I'll be happy to do my best to >deliver. But I feel like I've got way too many irons in the fire already >to try and become an expert in yet another field. And in the overall scheme >of life, it indeed is "only a piana." I've got a life, and piano >maintenance is what supports it. Not the other way around. > >Perhaps I only speak for one, then again, maybe many. Probably many but I'm open to learning more about it and I think a university setting is particularly suitable to exposing the students to HT's. At least it'll give them some basis on which to decide whether they like any of them or not. Anyway, that's one of my arguments for getting people to try it. :-) Avery >Jeff > >Jeff Tanner >Piano Technician >School of Music >813 Assembly ST >University of South Carolina >Columbia, SC 29208 >(803)-777-4392 >jtanner@mozart.sc.edu > > >_______________________________________________ >caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/60/3a/63/04/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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