Practical Concert Work

[Fred Sturm]

--On Saturday, May 29, 2004 4:06 PM -0700 Otto Keyes <okeyes@uidaho.edu> 
wrote:

>  The current penchant
> for over-stretched tuning is also counter-productive, since tone is richer
> (shoulder voicing or not) when all the harmonics of the scale of a
> particular instrument work together to build the sound, rather than each
> high treble note screaming away on a pitch of its own.  (no bias displayed
> here, of course!  :-))

Hi Otto,
	I'm interested to know what you consider to be "over-stretched."
	As a point of reference, my own tuning style emphasizes 8:1 triple 
octaves, at least at the top end of the piano (IOW, notes in 8ves 6 and 7 
are tuned to the 8th partial of notes in 8ves 3 and 4). In the center of 
the piano, I use a stretch that corresponds pretty closely to RCT style 5 
(using RCT, I start with 5, and use custom EQ to generate additional 
stretch at A5 [just a hair], A6 [a bit more] and A7 [a lot]). This is 
pretty much the way I've been tuning for many, many years, though when I 
tuned aurally, I would emphasize 6:1 19ths (easier to hear and test - 
m3rd/M17th), and later, using SAT, I would start by bumping up the A number 
by around .5 cents, and expand higher from C5 to C8 by checking lower 
partials.
	My own intent is exactly what you describe: making "all the harmonics of 
the scale of a particular instrument work together to build the sound." I 
like the way the whole instrument sounds with this degree of stretch. There 
is a blossoming of tone, to my ear, when "playing the whole piano" (holding 
down the pedal, play, eg, C1/C2, C3/G3/C4; then C5/G5/C6, C7/E7/G7/C8. Two 
big chords with both hands. Listen the the reverberation). And I've begun 
to lean to 16:1 quadruple octaves for concert instruments. Single octaves 
do have a significant beat in the upper ranges, but the upper notes aren't, 
IMO, "screaming away on a pitch of their own" but, rather, reinforcing a 
partial from lower in the piano. I have yet to hear a complaint that I 
stretch too much. I have occasionally had requests to stretch more (which 
is what led me to experiment with 16:1, which actually isn't that much 
wider than 8:1).
	Anyway, I'd be interested to learn other people's opinions about what 
constitutes enough or too much stretch.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico