In a message dated 3/21/99 8:28:30 AM Central Standard Time, ckball@mail.utexas.edu writes: << Dear Bill, I very much appreciate the help from you and Skip. I have been setting unequal temperaments on our harpsichords and fortepianos for nearly twenty years, mostly taken from the little yellow book by Jorgensen. My efforts have largely gone unacknowledged and unappreciated. Since our early music ensemble must accommodate instruments tuned both to 415 and 440, they use the keyboard transposing feature of our instruments for most concerts, thus precluding the opportunity to tune in anything other than equal. It has always been a mystery to me why the director would go to all the effort to be historically appropriate in so many aspects of the preparation and performance, but compromise the temperament. When I asked, he explained that most performances involve many compromises, having to make do with the equipment and talents available to him. In the future we may be using two different instruments, one at 440 and the other at 415. For my part, I find (reading yours and the other posts on pianotech) that my theoretical understanding is severely limited, and I am endeavoring to educate myself, as well as expand my repertoire of temperaments. The temperament feature of the SAT III offers many opportunities, and, unlike the SAT II, can adjust the entered 12 note off-set numbers to any measured FAC stretch. I have been debating with a member of our piano faculty the propriety of tuning her 6 1/2 octave 1818 Graf in equal temperament for Schubert. She was scared off by my use of the Jorgensen Young Modified a few years ago, when she found the G#-C third harsh and in conflict with her perception of the musical aesthetic she was wanting to express. When I protested that ET was inappropriate and was not used in Schubert's day, she countered with a tremendous amount of data garnered from Malcolm Bilson, Penny Crawford (Ann Arbor) and Grove Dictionary. I copied the two opening chapters from Jorgensen's "Tuning" book, which dispute the use of ET before 1900 because of the lack of theoretical knowledge (coincidental partials, ascending and descending evenly progressing beat speeds, etc.) and the lack of the requisite tempering skills. I also suspect that ET would not have sounded pleasant to the ears of Schubert, but that must remain speculation. Since neither of us are definitive scholars, I do not anticipate that this can be resolved until I succeed in tuning her instrument in an unequal temperament that meets her satisfaction. She is not adverse to practicing on an instrument unequally tempered in order to train her ears. Also, she has no problem playing 18th century and previous literature in such instruments. Bilson has a tremendous influence on her, as well he might, being one of our leading proponents of historical keyboard performance. He has recorded all the Mozart concerti on a Belt fortepiano with the English Chamber Orchestra. Recently he and his students professionally recorded all the Beethoven sonatas on appropriate instruments for each opus, as the piano was in a marvelous state of evolution during Beethoven's life, and he possessed several disparate instruments. For me it has been a revelation to discover the diversity and depth of knowledge among my colleagues. I am grateful to you for your efforts to educate us about the lost art of HT and look forward to continuing my education. This week I must go up to Fort Worth to prep a newly rebuilt Steinway D for the Van Cliburn Foundation and to do concert prep for a recital by Andrés Schiff. He is performing music by Beethoven, Bach and Schumann. Since there are two Steinways there, I would love to tune one in HT to see whether he will notice. Do I dare!? Regards, Charles >I'll respond later today. I haven't had timne yet but am glad Skip Becker had >something to say. Don't be afraid to post your question on the List. > >Bill Bremmer RPT Charles K. Ball, RPT School of Music The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712 512-467-1535 mailto:ckball@mail.utexas.edu >> Dear Charles, I agree with Skip Becker's suggestion that you try one of the Victorian temperaments in Owen's book. These are very difficult to do by ear but the cents deviation for FAC program seems to work. (I have no experience with these. I tune all of mine by ear and program then into the SAT). In the recordings you mention in your letter, do you know if HT's were used? I can't imagine all the effort towards authenticity, then compromising everything by using ET "just because". Also, Grove's Dictionary is known to have published the glaring error that Equal Temperament and Well-Tempered Tuning are one and the same thing. This happened about 100 years ago and has been one of the greatest sources of misunderstanding and confusion ever since. Many other books publish the same misinformation because of that error. The pianist who is performing Schubert should do well with a 19th Century temperament as you described. However, she has probably become conditioned to the milder sound of an ET 3rd which is only 14 cents wide. One of my colleagues, Timothy Farley RPT routinely tunes all pianos in 1/7 Comma Meantone which not only has a 22 cent 3rd in the key of Ab but also an 8 cent wide 5th. This gives that key a very powerfully emotional sound. I do realize however, that certain musicians have become so used to the compromises of ET that such a temperament sounds "wrong" when they first encounter it. They need to understand that if they perform in ET, then a C major tonality will sound no different from an Ab, Db or F# tonality: all the same, all colors and contrasts that were heard and intended by the composer blended and homogenized into one neutral sound. People do become accustomed to that kind of sound the way they can become accustomed to one kind of bland diet that has no texture or spice. When presented with an alternative the reaction can go either way, interest and delight or aversion and rejection. The artist you are working with needs to understand that the wider 3rds 10ths and 17ths that Schubert wrote in Ab and Db have more power and intensity in an HT. For starters, she should take note of the dynamic and tempo (or any other expressive) markings in the music and ask herself if she has been making literal use of them. Very often, performers that play this music in ET compensate for the lack of expression in that temperament by ignoring the true intensity of those markings. I've heard pianists speak of touching a key very lightly as if it were a "sore spot". The very rapid, fluttering sound of a wide interval in a remote key may also at times dictate the tempo that a passage should be played in. It can have much more of a "singing tone" than the same interval in ET. It can be thought of as a singer who has a very pronounced "warble" and rather than being thought of as offensive, worked with to the point that it is more musically distinct and satisfying than the rounded off sound that ET will provide. Getting her to understand the reasons why you are doing what you are doing and asking her to try to become accustomed to it by her own trial and error process might work. If you start with a Victorian Temperament, you will get the temperament colors you are looking for without the extremes that some HT's have. I think you should try tuning one of your Steinway D's either the way Skip suggested or from the program tuning I will give you below. I will only list the notes F2-F5 because I tend to stretch my octaves more than most people do and don't want my interpretation to influence your work one way or the other. You can fill out the tuning however suits you best. Remember, this is a programmed tuning, not deviations for an FAC program. As you are storing the values, you will need to reset the SAT at C3, C4 & C5 to read on the partial indicated. I use the same partial selection that is used on the PTG RPT Exam. It varies from the the automatic partial selection that is built into the SAT. You will have the wrong results if your partial selection is not correct. My sincerest regards, Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin Equal Beating Victorian Temperament for a Steinway D F2 read on C5 2.0 F#2 read on C#5 -3.0 G2 read on D5 -1.5 G#2 read on D#5 0.5 A2 read on E5 -0.5 A#2 read on F5 3.0 B2 read on F#5 -0.5 C3 read on C5 2.0 (reset partial selection to C5 here) C#3 read on C#5 -2.5 D3 read on D5 -2.0 D#3 read on D#5 0.0 E3 read on E5 -1.5 F3 read on F5 2.5 F#3 read on F#5 -2.5 G3 read on G5 2.0 G#3 read on G#5 1.0 A3 read on A5 0.0 A#3 read on A#5 3.0 B3 read on B5 0.0 C4 read on C5 2.5 (reset partial selection to C5 here) C#4 read on C#5 -1.5 D4 read on D5 0.0 D#4 read on D5 1.0 E4 read on E5 -2.0 F4 read on F5 3.0 F#4 read on F#5 -2.0 G4 read on G5 3.0 G#4 read on G#5 1.5 A4 read on A5 1.0 A#4 read on A#5 5.0 B4 read on B5 1.0 C5 read on C5 4.5 (reset partial selection to C5 here) C# read on C#5 -1.0 D5 read on D5 1.5 D#5 read on D#5 2.5 E5 read on E5 1.5 F5 read on F5 5.0
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