Richard, <<Not being convinced that Virgil Smith is simply misusing established terminology, but perhaps actually trying to describe something most of the rest of us have missed somehow>> Me either. I have gone to Virgil's class twice at conventions, and once at an all-day seminar he did in Memphis. The arguable thing is how he tunes his octaves with the "natural beat." His temperament is probably acceptable by all, but his octave tuning style is what everyone wants to know about. >From my experience in listening to Virgil and trying to duplicate what he does, I think it involves listening in a different way than we were taught to listen to coincident partials (say a 2:1 vs. a 4:2 vs. a 6:3, etc.) The way I explain it is a little different than Virgil does. What I say is that there exists a single point in the octave that maximizes the tone volume. Virgil speaks about beats being a rise and fall in volume. What I infer from that statement is that there is one point in the octave where all the partials coincide to produce the maximum volume for that octave. It is similar to tuning a unison: when the unison is perfect, it will be a little louder than if it is slightly off. The same can be true for the octave. I am not sure if this makes sense to anyone else, but it involves going beyond beats to hearing the whole tone produced by the two notes in the octave. Listen to the beats at first, but go beyond just hearing beats, and concentrate also on the volume produced. <<Start with the triple octave note on the flat side and bring it up to where it sounds most "beatless" to the reference appeggio. Tune a whole treble this way trying to "think" natural beats.>> I may tune a piano today, so I'll give it a shot. The concept Virgil has taught is that you can get beatless octaves simply by tuning octaves with open unisons as the reference note. OK, OK, OK...I know that they are not technically, scientifically beatless, but we have to listen as musicians listen. If we put on our musical ears after successfully tuning Virgil's way, there may be beats that can be scientifically verified, but the overall tone that is attained truly envelopes you, and is quite lovely. You simply do not hear the beats--it *sounds* as if none are produced. My few thoughts on a vast subject ... John Formsma Blue Mountain, MS
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