Jazz tuning style? ET, of course

[Doug B Hershberger]

Hi List,
   I've been following the posts about historical temperaments with great
interest. I used to be convinced that ET was the one and only. I can't get
the thought out of the back of my mind what Owen J. suggested. I'm
paraphrasing, but I think he said, playing Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier in
ET is ridiculous because it was used to describe the different tone color
changes as one modulated through the different key signatures.

This got me to thinking, why would a jazz player want it any differently?
If anything I would think they would want more tone color, more tension
etc...

I also think most musicians think very little about temperament and some of
the other things we talk about ad infinitum. They are to busy trying to
learn a new piece, new technique, make a living or whatever.

It is so easy to tune some of these temperaments with the Accu-tuner it is
very easy to try a HT for yourself. This list is great because we encourage
each other to try differnt things. I think the real challenge is to try
tuning some of the HT's by ear and it will also make you a better ET tuner
at the same time.

Enough of my ramblings,
Doug Hershberger, RPT
ALiso Viejo, CA

PS Nice to hear from you Dave S.
-----Original Message-----
From: david severance <severanc@mail.wsu.edu>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Friday, April 02, 1999 12:43 PM
Subject: Re: Jazz tuning style? ET, of course


>At 01:42 PM 4/2/99 EST, you wrote:
>>In a message dated 4/2/99 9:27:26 AM Central Standard Time,
>>bases-loaded@juno.com writes:
>>
>><< Anybody have any thoughts on what exactly he may be referring to?  >>
>>
>>Well, if you go with what *most* people seem to think, it would just
*have*
>>to be ET, wouldn't it?  So you can "jump in" to B, F# or Db at anytime and
>>not have any reason to do so other than to just be able to "jump in" and
not
>>have anyone be aware of it.  It's what they call "complete freedom of
>>modulation".  The slightest shade of "color" would disturb him greatly.
>>
>>I'll bet that guy didn't want some old *MEAN* tone tuning like some of
those
>>kooky ol' classical guys want.  He wanted it the right way, the modern
way,
>>the way that goes without saying, ET and ET only, no ifs, ands or butts.
>>
>>Bill Bremmer RPT
>>Madison, Wisconsin
>
>
>
>As a amateur jazz pianist, personally, I'm much more concerned with the
>color I impart with chord voicings than I am with the "key color" of any
>particular tuning scheme. Because of my belief that jazz is the continued
>evolution of tonal music classical composers largely abandoned for atonal
>music at the turn of the century, what a classical artist might require (in
>a tuning) may be entirely different than what a "jazzer" might require.
>With the sophisticated harmony of jazz, all kinds of colors are available
>within a key signature. I'm not saying HTs don't fill a niche but for me
I'm
>not sure I want a flat 9 sharp 11 to sound different in E flat than G.  If
I
>did I would voice the chord differently, an option that might be argued
>pre-twentieth century composers didn't have to the extent modern jazz
>artists have.
>        So a what constitues a good tuning for me in order of importance
are
>solid unisons, clean octaves and at the risk of being flamed off my piano
>stool a well executed ET.
>
>David Severance
>Dept of Music and Theater Arts
>Washington State University
>Pullman, WA 99164
>