Two Questions in One Post

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 10/13/00 7:46:47 AM Central Daylight Time, Ray@Bentley.net 
(Ray T. Bentley) writes:

<< First, I saw a recommendation from Ed Foote concerning the Valotti 
Temperament.  The RCT has a conversion to a temperament called Valotti-Young. 
 I have tuned this one before for a demonstration sponsored by the St. Louis 
Chapter last winter.  Are these temperaments one and the same?  I have seen 
or heard them referred to separately and also hyphenated.  Can anyone explain 
for me? >>

No, Vallotti and Young were two different people with two different 
temperaments although the sound of either the Vallotti, The Young #1 or the 
Vallotti-Young would be fairly similar when music is played.  The 
Vallotti-Young is basically the same as the Vallotti but Young traded the 
B-F# 5th which is pure in the Vallotti with the F-C 5th.  Most other 
Well-Temperaments had F-C pure.  The Vallotti was an exception.  This made 
the temperament easier to tune from a C fork but changed its sound very 
little.
 
<< Secondly,  I learned many years ago that we hear no fundamental in the 
lowest notes of pianos.  But I was under the impression that perhaps there 
would be fundamental heard in the lowest notes of concert grands.  I had a 
few minutes after the last tuning of a Steinway D that I prepared for a 
concert, and used the RCT Pianalyzer to measure the harmonics of the lowest 
octave.  I found that no fundamental was recorded until A1.  This means that 
even on that piano there is no fundamental pitch heard on the entire first 
octave of the piano.  Have any of you done any extensive research on this?  
Is this true of most concert grands, or only on the one I happened to try 
this on?  >>

Your trial might have only indicated that your equipment could not respond to 
such a low frequency and did not necessarily mean that the frequency was not 
present. Such low frequencies can be *felt* more than they can be heard.  The 
instrument probably does produce those low frequencies.  If you can feel the 
pulse generated by the lowest notes on the piano, it is producing those 
frequencies.  Contrast that with a piano which has a very shallow sound or 
better yet, with an electronic keyboard whose loudspeakers really are 
incapable of producing that sound.

The SAT also has difficulty registering very low frequencies.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin