In a message dated 98-01-27 05:27:20 EST, you write: << should you choose to tune in a music industry venue, you are expected to conform to that standard, unless a contract states otherwise. Richard Moody ps I have heard the show "what do you know" on PBS, in particular the one in Rapid City SD since a friend was in the audience. I don't remember the piano, but still I am interested in hearing how a piano sounds in non ET over the airways. Are there any shows comming up that have a piano with your tuning? rm >> I have specifically turned down recording studio jobs because I would not be allowed to tune in an HT. Any concerts that I tune at, the artist and music director know what I will be doing or I don't do it. This sometimes means I don't get to do a job I'd like, but I would not enjoy hearing a performance or a recording in ET anyway. The piano used in the "What d'ya Know?" show, which was libelously and hostilely condemned in this list by the all-powerful and all-knowing Gina Carter, is normally tuned by Daniel P. Eberhardy RPT who tunes the very finest unisons I have ever heard. The show does not always eminate from Madison. It travels around the country. Whatever conditions there are elswhere are what prevail in those venues. The show is also not live every week. It is often a rerun, sometimes a non-Madison rerun. In the past two months, I have had the opportunity to do this tuning because Mr. Eberhardy suffered a fall and due to his injury, has not been able to get around to many of his regular jobs. The show has also recently moved from a studio on the University of Wisconsin campus to the Monona Terrace, a new Convention Center designed by the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. At the old location, I think it was a Mason & Hamlin BB (Aeolian vintage) that had been in use most recently. At the new location, because of the small size of the stage and the unusual colors and decor of the room, a restored (by Timothy Farley RPT) Art Deco 5'2" Wurlitzer Grand is used. It was chosen because of its size and case design. As a piano, it certainly does have its limitations. It would likely be the target of condemnation and ridicule on this list, not worth rebuilding, even tuning, for that matter. But you see, not everyone views small grand pianos by manufacturers such as Wurlitzer, Kimball, Steck or Brambach as worthless junk. We prefer to appreciate the individual character of each of these and find a time, place and customer who cherishes the instrument. I believe Mr. Eberhardy usually tuned a Victorian temperament but he has also used a modified meantone and a 1/7 comma meantone temperament in the past. I have been using a pattern for a Victorian temperament that I have been working on for about 6 years. It has come to be called, "Equal-Beating Victorian". If I manipulate it just right, I could hypothetically tune it on an RPT Exam and "pass" that Exam's temperament section with a minimum score. Indeed, my deliberately non-equal temperament is "more equal" as George Orwell and John Travis were known to say, than many tuner's best efforts at ET. There is not a single note within the temperament range that is even 1 cycle per second deviant from theoretical values for ET. Therefore, it is perfectly compatible with all fixed pitch instruments such as an electronic keyboard, another piano tuned in ET or any MIDI program. I will be tuning this temperament at the convention in Providence. I will also be tuning it this Saturday morning, January 31 just before the show. The show will be in reruns for a few weeks afterwards and by the next time it airs in Madison, Mr. Eberhardy should be recovered enough to do it again but it will still be tuned in some kind of mild HT. I can ask him which one if anyone is curious. Also of interest in my tuning method will be how the octaves are stretched. What I will do in this case is very simple. From C6 to C8, the notes are tuned in unison with the note 2 octaves and a 5th below it. This is done with the SAT. This produces audible beating in the single octaves between the 6th and 7th octaves. (this would definitely fail that portion of a hypothetical RPT Exam). This amount of stretch was chosen however because the room itself is very dead with soft surfaces and the piano has an unmovable cover which is the equivilant of a closed lid. These "tempered octaves" serve to "project" a crisp treble and high treble which might otherwise sound dull or flat. The fact that the temperament is slightly unequal really has little consequence one way or the other on this effect. Also one final consideration, because the music is heard on the AM band in "lo-fi mono" instead of Hi-fi stereo, there are some sound limitations. The signal is compressed on both the high and low ends. It's like listening through a cardboard tube. Also, the radio you might be using might compound this compression. Even if you hear it in a rerun on FM, the sound is compressed and monaural. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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