This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Billbrpt@AOL.COM=20 To: pianotech@ptg.org=20 Sent: Friday, November 02, 2001 9:37 AM Subject: Re: more on this temperament tangent In a message dated 11/2/01 8:15:08 AM Central Standard Time, = Tvak@AOL.COM=20 writes:=20 Orchestral music is played in just intonation. Each player = constantly tunes=20 his instrument adjusting each note.=20 If this were true, orchestras would sound like a glass harmonica.=20 <Huh?=20 If you define Just Intonation as the 3rd and 5ths being pure, = Orchestras, in fact, are strongly influenced byJust Intonation. They = don't utlitlize Just Intonation in the same way a keyboard would be = tuned, but they do have strong similarities. >. It's time to pull out your Harvard Music Dictionary and start reading = the definitions of Just Intonation, Temperament, Equal Temperament, and = Well-Temperament carefully.=20 >Start with Just Intonation. Just Intonation in an orchestra tuning = should not be confused with the hazzards of Just Intonation tuning for a = keyboard. The definition of Just Intonation states it is a theoretical = system of tuning in which the 3rds and 5ths remain pure, in which all = other intervals derive from....". That being said,orchestras are deeply = influenced byJust Intonation as the accepted way to play the 3rd, 5th, = and octave . Regardless of the work, be it a Verdi opera, Rossini = overture, or Stravinksy's Firebird, influences of Just Intonation are = throughout. As a perfermer in the wind section play a beating 3rd in a = slow movement you might as well kiss your job good bye. If 2 clarients = are playing in octaves, they better be absolutely pure. Same with the = 3rds or 5ths. Temperament Undoubtebly,composers have been and will always be influenced by = temperament. Most have been conditioned by the very fact that most = write their works from the keyboard. Not necessarily for the keyboard, = but through the keyboard. Think of the1000's of hrs. spent composing a = major symphony while slaving over a pianoforte tuned in WT, or today on = a Steinway D tuned in ET. The examples are too obvious where temperament = of the day influenced the style of writing. It's analogus to computers = and software programers. Programers are influenced and restricted by the = operating system of that computer. Someone working with Windows will = obviously be influenced the constraints and characteristics of that = system. Someone working with DOS, MAC systems will be conditioned = differently. Composers living during the Baroque period were obviously influenced = by the early temperaments. Temperament only exists on keyboard=20 instruments. Not in the minds of composers. When a composer writes = an=20 orchestral piece, he thinks in just intonation. =20 Let's word that differently... "Temperament tuning only exists on the stringed keyboard." .... Back = to the Harvard Music Dictionary Temperament..."General designation for various systems of tuning in = which the intervals are tempered, i.e., they deviate from the = accoustically correct intervals of the Pythagorean scale and of Just = Intonation" Orchestras do not temper those intervals AND composers are influenced = by the attributes of temperament. The great composers we all elude to = were all extreme cases of pure genius. They had an incredible amt.of = understanding and sensitivity towards temperament, key color, and even a = thorough understanding for the instruments they were writing for. We = haven't even begun to dive into the problems each instrument brings to = the table. Yet these composers were able to work around a lot of = hazzards and find the inner most beauty and present it as a gift of pure = delight. I often wonder what if Mozart would have wrote differently if = he was living today. Better yet, what if he could have time traveled = ahead 300 yrs. and had the opportunity to experience writing music with = different temperaments and modern instruments. What if could have looked = back and wanted to change what he had written? Tom Servinsky,RPT ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/6c/a2/15/47/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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