David writes:
<< I play jazz and ET is the only thing I want to hear. Jazz has lots of
improv, key changes...I sure don't want to hear a F-A at 7 bps change to 17 bps
on a F# type chord...;-[ >>
That isn't a change we would expect to find in Victorian era tuning,
(expect 7 bps at F3 in ET). In most of my tunings, it would be slower, in the 3-5
range. Likewise, the F# third wouldn't beat at 17 bps. but could be tempered
17 cents wide, beating at , hmm, I have never counted it, maybe 10 at F#3? If
this sounds loose, it is.
Jazzers I work for around here don't mind, and even like, the tuning
"warmed up"(their words). Same thing with some arrangers I tune for. They felt
like ET was boring after trying some mild WTs. So, even though they didn't know
why, they settle on a comfort zone, and it is rarely all the way back to ET.
It isn't so important to have a lot of contrast between keys, just that
everything isn't the same, and there be a logical order. I see the major
improvment with just a slight departure from strict ET, which produces a different
feel, harmonically. People like this.
My customers have had the difference pointed out and I sell them what
they want. Sometimes, when a pianist first plays a "loosened" ET with clean
octaves and fresh unisons, it is like watching them drink the Kool-aid. Others
don't even register it, and a very few get uncomfortable because it is different.
There are fewer and fewer of those , but that might just be me, I dunno.
As far as PR goes, it certainly isn't my shining personality that
determines profesionals' preferences. My tunings aren't cheap, and these are not
naive ears. I think it is the change in the response of the instrument. I think
ET represents a mathematical ideal, but makes for compromised expression in
keyboard music. I believe humans respond more naturally to something slightly
rumpled, but that is just MY Kool-aid.
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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