Greetings, In making an analogy between tunings and fast food, Bill writes: > These places are of course a dependable source for a good >meal. But when you want something distinctive, <snip> you go to an >individually owned and operated restaurant. <more snip> > I hope everyone on the List will buy Ed Foote's CD. Thank you for that unsolicited plug! It is always good to be a hit with "hard listeners" >It really is quite good. But if I had to summarize my personal feelings about it >in just a few words, I'd say, "Too smooth! A little rougher next time, please!" <more snips> >From what Ed has said here on the List and in the way he tuned the piano in the >recording, Ed is very consciously concerned about offending anyone with >something they just might find to sound out-of-tune. Actually, I accepted my target as offending about 25 percent, hopefully elating 50 % of the listeners, and being totally oblivious to the rest. I spent five years watching audiences reactions to these and other temperaments, specifically noticing what affected their acceptance or rejection. During this time I also have learned how fast I can take musicians back in time without losing them. Firing an early volley in the siege on monotemperamentalism, I wanted a sound that was exciting, but not saturated in surprises as extreme changes in tempering can be, (as in 1/5 comma or stronger). It also had to have historical validity, if we are to expect getting what Beethoven was perhaps sending. For this, I unapologetically follow and trust the data in Owen Jorgensen's reseach. I take it personally when a pianist prefers ET for Bach, but I have learned to live with it. It is a matter of taste, thus fit for discussion only when well into the brandy. I have a customer that has his $2,500,000 home decorated in black and white. I would go nuts there, but he is loves it. We chose the temperaments for their tonal balance. Listening to all the pieces on a variety of temperaments, this is the sound that we found most appealing. For a beginning, two temperaments are enough. These two, with the sonatas we used, provided a balanced aspect to the whole. The Young has a certain "crystalline" nature, to my ear, it almost reminds me of a 32-ET with the color turned on. The Prinz is the heavy this time around. It offers a full comma in its highest keys. This is, IMHO, the right dosage for this project, at this time. Bill again: <snip> > But this is only one of the virtually infinite possibilities. He could have, for >example, used the same temperament but stretched his 6th & 7th octaves quite a > >bit more for a different sound. If you are saying that the top two octaves sound flat to your ears, we have defined our sense differences,(pardon the pun) because that amount of stretch is exactly what I like. I have listened above and below, and the CD presents what I consider to be "right" and I would love to get a vote from the techs at large what they think, it would let me know where I am located in the overall theme. The tunings are straight Jorgensen alterations of the aural temperament I stored in my SAT for this Steinway D. That original tuning was done five years ago, and underwent approximately five successive refinement changes before I had what I wanted in ET and then shipped the machine to Al Sanderson for him to convert to a variety of temperaments defined by Owen's research. ( I did this with all sizes of the Steinway grands). Others have commented that it sounded really brilliant up there, and yet others thought it "soft" <wishing J.Coleman would go somewhere and listen to the CD on a big stereo, and give a review from the "Fount of Perfect Fifths" !!- Jim, those computer speakers are good for making beep sounds and alarm chimes, but for my unisons and commas with Beethoven?? <sob>(:)}} ) Bill again: >I know that there are other temperaments which can bring out far more color than >that which was used. Agreed, but that additional color disrupted what Enid and I both thought was a refined balance. >This is not really a criticism of Ed's choice as much as it is of the status quo that >forces him to be so constrained. I don't mind criticism in the least! I think it makes me a better tech. >The pianist might not have liked anything any stronger. Why? She simply has >never experienced anything stronger. She might be shocked by it and instantly >demand, "Back to ET!". < It was years ago when I first introduced Enid Katahn to HT with a Werckmiester out of Sandersons little manual. On a Steinway D. She loved it, and now has a more refined palette for tonal balance than I do. It affects her play, so there is a synergistic effect that she is more aware of than I. I was not constrained so much as I was balancing two strengths of deviation from ET. The compositions were chosen for their keys, chronological order, commercial appeal and personal favoritism, in that order. Bill again: > Even though the tempering was so mild, there were still technicians on the >List who thought they heard sounds which were "out-of-tune" to their ears. >This is because they have trained themselves to think and respond to a very >narrow band of tolerance. Maybe, maybe not. Traditionally, a full comma was not considered "mild". It is a question of taste, thus, we cannot say why. The heaviest places in the recordings set my hair on end too. There are no places that do that now, but there were many to start! A very common response I am getting from customers is that by the third listening, the message inherent in "key color" becomes stronger than their conditioning and it is then that Beethoven really starts to become riveting. I don't think I would achieve that effect if I made it more difficult for a listener to play it the second time. > I really get a >distinct pleasure out of tuning a stronger temperament for a customer who >knows the difference, understands it and asks for it by name.>> Yes, those are really rewarding customers to have. I am digging for every one of them I can develope. Years ago, I sold habenero sauce on the side. After growing up in Louisiana, and never seeing Tabasco get brown,(we grew up in a spicy envirnoment!), I was amazed at how hot this habenero stuff was. Some could love it, others died as soon as they realized what they had just bitten. One day, I saw a guy put a huge smear of it on a hamburger, then announce that "this stuff must be watered down, because it sure wasn't hot" ............. After two years of seeing people react to this sauce, I felt justified in telling him that his heat sensitivity was not in the least normal. He got miffed, but what other rationale explained the contradiction of our opinions on the sauce? There are musicians out there that have the same approach to dissonance. Just can't get enough... Malcolm Bilsen was playing Mozart here on something that sounded needlessly harsh to my ear, etc. Reading Ed Tomlinson's post last week, asking that the temperament discussion be stopped made me realize that I have seen a lot of miff on the list. I don't miff over subjective differences, but the temperament discussion will continue, as it has for over 2,500 years. It is important that we not waste time on the hypothetical. The supremecy of ET will have to be re-proven against new techology's ability to render a taste of the past with amazing ease. These are great times to be tuning in !! The musical debate over the value of temperament is one that is as delicate as it is long. Today, there are rarified senses making judgments on old familiar music. There are many toes to step on in academia, (barely time to stomp on them all). However one treads, the big steps are not found between differing HT's; the big step is the one that is taken when first leaving the familiar, (ET). It is that step that I think the HT technician should address first. It is my hope that more of you will join in the broadening of sonic horizons made possible by combining the research done by Owen and the programmable tuning machines of today. Having a good, clean 12TET in your pocket is an invaluable asset in these modern times, but that is no reason to lack a more complete inventory of harmony for the keyboard. Regards to all, Ed Foote
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