In a message dated 11/1/00 8:18:13 AM Central Standard Time, jformsma@dixie-net.com (John M. Formsma) writes: << One of the things that I have been doing is tuning an unequal temperament on many of the old uprights that I do, and most all of the spinets. Usually, the owners are not musically adept enough to tell that it is not ET, and it sounds good to me. I'm not sure exactly which temp that I do--I just arrange things to suit me. However, the F, G, C thirds beat about the same 6 bps, and the fastest thirds are C#, F#, and B. The A third is about the same than ET, the Ab is faster, the D is slower, and Eb is faster, etc, etc. Kinda Bremmerian, eh? Works for me, and no complaints so far. >> If the material I had written had been copyrighted (the way the use of the Wapin Bridge system is and has been suggested that I do), you'd be in trouble! But it isn't copyrighted and there are no plans for that so you are free and encouraged to do just what is explained in Section 72 of Owen's big Red Book, "Tuning the 18th Century Temperament to Suit One's Personal Taste". This material had been presented at a PTG Annual Convention just prior to the publication of that book. Previously, Owen had presented 1/4 Comma Meantone and Thomas Young but at this particular presentation, Owen showed the class what he had been leading up to all along, and congratulations, John, you have caught on to the idea perfectly. The fact that you chose 6 beats per second for your C4-E4 3rd set your parameters for the rest of the temperament. Something else I read recently, (I don't recall where just now) suggested that the width of this initial 3rd will do just that. You can have it be pure, 1 beat, 2, 3 or what ever you want, all the way up to 11, which is the ET speed. If you go beyond that, it will be Reverse Well, or the unusual De Morgan type temperament. There is a nice serendipity to the 6 beats per second that allows you to get so many other Equal Beating (EB) intervals. This will make much of the close harmony played in the usual context sound as if it were tempered far less than it really is and spare the harshness at the bottom of the Cycle of 5ths that even such popular temperaments as the Vallotti have. That is why I usually don't tune that temperament even though I know how very well, it was the first HT I ever learned. I would only use it for specific reasons now, not as a general or universal temperament. The 6 beats per second of the initial 3rd puts the temperament into the Victorian category but consider this: none of the published Victorian temperaments that are so often suggested for mildness have the combination of pure and tempered 5ths that earlier and stronger Well-Temperaments have nor do they have the EB properties. That is why I don't use them and believe that simply copying material and especially simply dialing in numbers to get something that I really don't understand is no way to get the best that a piano has to offer. Good work, John and keep it up! Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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