Temperament$

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Greetings, 
   If I may condense several postings into one: 
Terry 1 writes:
<<I have not heard of the "Broadwood's Best". Would you

share the offsets for it? What can you tell us about its characteristics -

compared to Valotti or ET?>>

      The characteristics are the same as any of the well-temperaments, 
albeit to a lesser degree.  The Young makes an even progression in rising 
dissonance around the circle of fifths from the C-E third at 5 cents wide to 
the F#-A# at 21 cents,( a full syntonic comma),  the Broadwood tuning reduces 
this contrast by having the C-E at 7 cents and four major thirds at only 19 
cents, which gives a lot of color to the keys of E, B, Gb, and Db and a 
noticeable increase in clarity in the bottom half of the circle.    
    It is harmonically expensive to create a pure C-E, as evidenced by the 
price of a Kirnberger.  It has a Just C-E, but pays for it with two of its 
thirds widened to 19 cents and THREE of them at 21 cents.  It is a beautiful 
sounding tuning, but is strong medicine for 20th century ears! 
   Jorgensen's offsets from ET for the Broadwood I used are as follows: 
C= +5
C#= 1
D  = +3
D#= +3
E  = -2
F  = +5
F#=  0
G  = +5
G#= +2
A  = 0
A#= +4
B  = -1

And the West Coast Terry asks: 
   >>I'm just curious, if you get a reaction like that to your "modified" 
tuning, 
why not tune ALL your customer's pianos like that? << 
   
     I am working on it.  At present, 80 percent of my customers are now out 
of ET, this includes several profession recording studios.  The next Nancy 
Griffith CD will be using a Young temperament on the piano tracks, (which her 
producer told me are "all over the CD", the guitar players love it. )

>>Also, can I program this tuning into my SAT II?<< 

    Yes, but it is easier to start with your FAC tuning,( or a customized ET 
that you have recorded for a given piano), and then set the pitch offset to 
one of the values and tune all the notes for that setting, then reset the 
offset to the next and tune all the pertinent notes with that setting.  ie,  
dial in +5 and tune all your C's, F's, and G's.  Then erase that offset, re 
dial in +3 and tune all your D's and D#.  Continue on until you have it all 
done.  This isn't the easiet way to use the machines, but it is effective.  
The alternative is to manually go in and alter each of the 88 notes on your 
FAC program by the given amounts.  This takes a little more time at the 
outset, but if you have a number of like pianos,  it will make this 
temperament easier to deliver.  

And then Ron writes: 
>>I'm obviously not Ed (beard's not quite that long or gray, and I'm taller
and dumber looking),<< 

     Well, the beard is near gone,(I got a nice bottle of Scotch and an 
electric trimmer for Christmas and one thing led to another and then another, 
and now you say something about gray?  What, me?   And I don't think a person 
could look dumber than I did walking around waiting for that CA nozzle to let 
go of my lip last month! (If you think there is a little glue left in the 
glue-tip, DO NOT try to blow it out!)

>>I'd say the thing is that the "allthingsforallpeople" temperament is still
under construction and consideration. << 
   I can't disagree with this, but will submit that it is possible that the  
"allthingsforallpeople" temperament was a 20th century phenomenom/delusion. I 
don't think any ONE temperament will allow the piano to display all of its 
tonal resources.
            This is a new year/century/millineum,  and things change.  I 
suppose what I am doing is splashing around in the waves,  yelling to those I 
see on the shore that the water is fine, no sharks(wolves) around.  Yes, 
occasionally I may step on an sea-urchin, but risks are always proportional 
to gain, and life is too short not to gain as much as possible.( I say this 
before stepping on the scales in my bathroom) 

 >>This is a great thing, when it
works. The problem is that the medication requirements are customer
specific, and there is no "one size fits all". << 

       Agreed.  However,  the strength of the medication has a lot to do with 
its applicability.  Whereas only a physician should prescribe heavy drugs, 
(meantones or maybe Kirnbergers), any caring mother can tell when a spoon of 
cough syrup or an aspirin (Broadwood,etc) will make an improvement.  
   
Thanks to all for the responses, I just KNOW that we can enjoy a vigorous 
dialogue about things we do.  
Wishing all a happy, prosperous, and progressive New Year. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT 
 (forgive me if I have stretched the analogies so thin that they are 
transparent, but overturning stones isn't as much fun as rolling them down 
the hill, and there are birds in the bushes that need a hand.....)