<<I wonder how close I could come by just tuning the temperament (via intervals) solely by ear (not counting the beat rates or using an electronic device, just tuning to what "sounds" good)? Any ideas how close to a correct temperament someone could come using this method?>> Greetings, That depends on what "correct" means to you. If you are aiming at ET, I don't believe this method will pass a Guild test. At least, the ones I have seen didn't. By being off 1 cent on a couple of fifths, you will skew your thirds as far out as some mild well-temperaments. That would be fine, except they won't be in the traditional order so the music will suffer some alteration. Now, if you wanted to tune the Young, regarded as an idealized form of well-tempered tuning, you only need listen to fifths to create a very sophisticated, complex, temperament. You tune 6 pure fifths, from C-F-Bb-Eb-G#-C#-F#, then six equally impure fifths going the other way, ie, C-G-D-A-E-B-F#. (transpose with fourths to stay in the octave, of course), This will give you three thirds with syntonic commas, the CE, GB, and FA thirds are all 5.8 cents wide and the thirds in between progress in size as you move by fifths. You will have three thirds that are 21 cents wide, etc. A tuning like this can shed a whole new light on music of its era. Try it, you'll like it. REgards, Ed Foote
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