On Oct 8, 2009, at 8:05 AM, Dempsey Jr., Paul E wrote: > So, how wide is that? > > For Werckmeister, I would say not much more than 2 - 6 cents, just judging by the way he writes. He is a pretty adamant opponent of mean tone, but there we are talking about 36 cents wide for a 1/4 comma mean tone (just thirds), or well in excess of 20 cents for mean tone with somewhat wide thirds. After he described his temperament procedure, he said the narrow 5ths would be 1/8 to 1/12 comma narrow, which would make any wide 5th not very wide at all. Fred > > .....really, since 5ths aren't all that critical to the sound > of a temperament (within reasonable boundaries). In fact, as > Werckmeister's instructions show, he had no problem with a wide 5th or > even two or three, as long as they weren't wide enough to be wolves. > > Paul E. Dempsey, RPT > Piano Technician Sr. > Marshall University > Huntington, WV > 304-696-5418 > 304-617-1149 > > Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu
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