hysterical temperaments

[Jim]

Hi Danny:

The temperament which Virgil uses is a very accurate Equal Temperament.
His mode of stretch is what I try to emulate as well as doing a very
good temperament.

Your question about whether or not the Coleman4 Well would go with more
contemporary music is a good one.  Actually this Well Temp. is so mild
that no one would notice the difference except that it does seem to make
a piano sound bigger and cleaner, even in the more distance keys.  I know
that sounds hard to believe, but you just have to try it to see if you
like it.  I have used this tuning on a Baldwin SD10 in a Mega Church in
my town.  It is played regularly with a Rodgers Organ tuned in ET. It is
played with an orchestra etc.  Only the organist and I know that there is
anything different about the tuning, but the musicians all love the piano.
Part of that is that Rick Baldassin and Mike Spreeman of Salt Lake City
area recently did a beautiful job rebuilding the piano.

Modified Meantone is still a little too much for me, but I don't quite
know what you mean by Modified Well.

Jim Coleman, Sr.

On Thu, 20 Mar 1997, Danny Moore wrote:

> Jim wrote:
>
>   To Doug and the list:
>   You might want to try a more mild form of Well Temperament before
>   you
>   write it off as "Crankmeister II" or some such.
>
> Jim,
> Having attended Virgil's class at national, I doubt that most of us are
> ready to write off what you and he are proposing.  I don't have an
> AccuTuner, so I especially appreciate your aural explanation.  It's
> difficult for me to convert from SAT to aural because of my lack of
> familiarity with the machine.
>
> Isn't what you're calling the ColemanIV basically the same temperament
> Virgil tunes?  If not, what are the differences?
>
> While this temperament seems to sound "sweeter" than the ET, how much of
> that is "real" and how much is merely perception.  (I know, it's all
> perception - if I were a native of Bali, I would probably hate
> everything but Gamelian.)  Most of us have never heard anything but ET.
> Perhaps the modified well temperament is appealing simply because it's
> new and fresh to most of us.  Then too, you're still discussing Baroque,
> Classical and Romance periods.  How will Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea or
> (gasp) Little Richard fair with this temperament?
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
>
> Danny Moore
> Houston Chapter
>
>