HTs using cents offset from ET

[Robert Scott]

Stephen Birkett wrote:

>>>>
Historical instructions for setting temperaments are actually much less 
precise than implied by Jorgenson's methodology. Any system that involves 
counting beats is a-historical. I guess it's all a bit like "add a 
teaspoonful of" in a recipe. So this well-espouced problem is really a 
problem with our anachronous insistence on mathematical precision. With 
historical flexibility it vanishes.
<<<<

Yes, Stephen, I agree that the figures with 5 decimal places of
precision in Jorgensen are ridiculous.  There is no way that much
precision can be meaningful.  But when we tune historical temperaments,
do we dress ourselves in the fashion of an 18th century tuner?  Do we
use 18th century tools?  Then why should we insist on 18th century
methods?  What we want are 18th century results.  If a modern method
can achieve an historically correct result, then why not take
advantage of it?  The "modern method" can mean anything from counting
beats in 4ths to using an SAT.

Having a "cents offset from ET" method for tuning an HT serves a
real need.  It allows someone with an electronic tuning aid to quickly
jump into the HT arena - something they might have otherwise been
reluctant to do if the only instructions were "add a teaspoonful
of discord into thy thirds, that thy fifths may not be too displeasing
to thy ear".

Robert Scott
Ann Arbor, Michigan