In a message dated 7/19/98 12:38:16 PM Central Daylight Time, karenb@telebyte.com writes: << Anyway, my question for the list is concerning Historial Temperaments. I have Mr. Jorgensens book and the imformation provided in Dr. Sandersons SAT manual. HOWEVER! All of the examples in the Jorgensen book when tuned aurally BEGIN on the note C and no specific PITCH reference is given. All examples in all temperaments in Dr. Sandersons manual begin on A with no specific PITCH reference given there either. Also, some temperaments seem to include different note sequences C# being different from Db from the examples in the book and the manual. I'm soooooooo confused! Would greatly appreciate additional help. I have read a good number of the digest articles from june and printed many, but they do not seem to address these questions. John Nafie >> If you wish for your A4 to be at Standard Pitch when tuning an HT, you must use A-440 as the pitch for that note. This is recommended. If you begin your temperament on C, it should be tuned about 2 beats sharp to a C fork for most HT's. If you use an ETD, you can find a way to calibrate your temperament so that the A falls at 440. Regarding those temperaments where different values are given for the same note, these are Meantone Temperaments of very strong character and limited usefulness and are really for early music more than anything else. They would not be a good choice for the modern piano under most circumstances. The usual choice however, is Db, not C#. Sometimes, C# is chosen for a particular piece. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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