[CAUT] "HT for Dummies"

[Fred Sturm]

On Feb 26, 2009, at 7:11 PM, Jim Busby wrote:

> Harpsichord – Werkmeister III (He demands that tuning…)
> Harpsichord – Meantone (I think it is 1/6 comma?)
> Kawai Grand, and a Disklavier upright - Broadwoods Best
>
> If I had a good “recipe” for those I’d be happy.
>

Hi Jim,
	You can find aural instructions for them in Di Veroli's book.  
Broadwoods Best is in Big Red, the others are in Jorgensen's earlier  
book.
	If you are doing mean tone, I'd do 1/4 comma. It gives pure M3s. 1/6  
comma is still quite "wolfie" (you can't modulate any farther, and you  
can't use a sharp for a flat or vice versa much better). So you have  
"dirty" M3s and really haven't gained anything - and it is much harder  
to set by ear. In addition, there is little historical evidence it was  
used widely. 1/4 comma is a piece of cake - once you balance those  
first four 5ths making up a pure M3, you are home free, and everything  
is obvious.
	If they want more circularity (modulation to further keys), use a  
modified mean tone like Rousseau (in preference to 1/6 comma). It  
gives you many of the pure M3s, and divides the wolf 5th's width among  
a few 5ths so that all the sharps/flats become relatively enharmonic.  
A good bit more extreme than the WTs in range of M3 color, but  
circular. These (1/4 and Rousseau) are also in Di Veroli, and no doubt  
in Jorgensen's earlier book.
	The Rousseau is authentic for French music of the Baroque, and maybe  
sort of for Italian, not for the Germanic composers. There you are  
better off (in terms of authenticity) with WTs like Werck III or  
Vallotti or Lehman's Bach (which is a "reconstruction" but follows the  
general principles). These don't have the pure M3s, but their "bad"  
M3s are not nearly as wide either (it's the necessary trade-off). And  
for the mathematically inclined, they rely on the Pythagorean comma  
instead of the Syntonic one - a different historical and theoretical  
basis, if you like. In terms of sound, it's just less extreme.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu


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