[CAUT] temperament

[Israel Stein]

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:37:09 -0600 Fred Sturm wrote:

> 	The rise of the profession of tuning came at the same time as  
> industrialization, with book learning becoming a much more important  
> component (tuning and repair manuals/books began to be published  
> shortly after 1750 in Germany). I'm not sure there are any records of  
> tuning being taught systematically as a profession prior to Montal at  
> the Paris school for the blind in the 1820s. We might assume  
> apprenticeship (probably at a manufacturer) as the major means of  
> education, unless someone picked up a book and self-taught. In urban  
> centers, it seems it was customary to get a tuner from a local  
> manufacturer, even in the times of harpsichords (I am thinking Pepys  
> and Jean Denis here). The profession as an independent way to make a  
> living probably arose when there was enough demand that individuals  
> could branch off on their own, I'd suspect between the very late 18th  
> century and mid 19th century.
>   

Fred,

I cannot quote a source, but I remember reading some time ago a 
discussion of the rise of the professional tuner (a rather brief one, if 
I remember correctly) which cited the need for developing a "hammer 
technique" to tune the increasingly heavier strung pianos as one of the 
factors in the rise of the professional tuner. While the actual skill of 
moving the pins on a harpsichord or a lightly strung wood-framed piano 
is quickly and easily learned (not much more demanding than turning a 
violin peg), the metal framed pianos with much heavier stringing, all 
those friction points and much more tightly held tuning pins required 
the development of a hammer technique through extensive practice to even 
be able to come close to a semblance of a temperament pattern (whichever 
one was being aimed for) - never mind stability. So until that time the 
wealthy and the noble hired harpsichord and piano tuners - working 
musicians without patrons and the less wealthy tuned their own. Until it 
became impossible - due to changing piano technology - to tune their own 
without taking the time to perfect "hammer technique". This might have 
been a significant factor in increasing demand and making "tuning" a 
viable profession. If this is true, that would suggest that this point 
in time came later rather than earlier in your conjectured time frame, 
above.

Fascinating discussion, by the way...

Israel Stein