In a message dated 7/25/00 12:27:52 PM Central Daylight Time, nhunt@jagat.com (Newton Hunt) writes: << ...go for pure fourths then pure fifths then have him adjust thirds to equal beat rates to get the sense of equality and speed. If he can tune a series of contiguous major thirds so they beat equally he is ready to learn to temper intervals and octaves. >> I wouldn't want to get too picky here but the purpose behind Clyde's plea for accuracy does have a lot of merit. With only the pilot light on my flame thrower lit, I would take some issue with the above. Yes, unisons should be taught first, then "pure" 4ths, 5ths and octaves. But you really can't have a "series" of equally beating contiguous 3rds in any kind of temperament. Making intervals beat equally is one of the techniques used in constructing a good Historical Temperament by ear. Unfortunately, Equal Temperament (ET) does not have any equally beating intervals. The danger in teaching a student to tune pure 4ths & 5ths and in teaching the Equal Beating concept while at the same time teaching that there is only one correct way to tune the piano, ET, is that the student will inevitably end up tuning Reverse Well, not know what that is and use it as a life long substitute for ET. The same person will most likely adopt the attitude that most technicians have about any other kind of temperament, that all but ET are useless, but never, in fact be really able to tune a true ET. Teaching the 4:5 ratio of contiguous 3rds is, in my opinion, the most important aural tuning technique to learn for ET and it is perhaps the most difficult. The best approach might be then, to teach the student to tune 2 contiguous 3rds so that they beat equally, then to show the student that just a slight adjustment of any one of the 3 notes involved can make the difference between equally beating 3rds and the elusive 4:5 ratio that is required for ET. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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