Terry writes: >That is why I am looking forward to this Chicago class where the focus >will be in how to select an appropriate HT. Are you aware of any other >guidance sources for choosing a temperament? Reading what Owen J. has to say is a good base. Then application will show you a lot. >If I had a more solid and wider ranging foundation with these things, I >could talk sensibly to a musician and perhaps go for something stronger. >I have trouble steering them one way or another when I am seemingly just >as clueless as they are. The Vallotti is a fairly strong tuning to begin with. It carries a full syntonic comma in the most remote keys,( Db, Gb and B). In contrast, the 1799 Young has only one third that wide(F#-A#). What I have found to be most effective in introductions is the use of the Broadwood's Best that Jorgensen provides, or the Coleman 11. These provide key color without too much of a change and the acceptance rate is near 100%. The widest thirds in the Broadwood are only 18 cents, so it doesn't shock the new ears, and the smoothness found in the "white keys" is profoundly musical to those persons that have lived their whole lives in a 14 cent tempering of ET. It is always easier to take the customers farther and farther into the tonal realm after they decide that they like the change from ET, but quite difficult to interest them in it at all if the first change is too drastic for them. Chronologically, the temperaments tend to get more contrasty and stronger as you move back in time, so you can use that as a rough guide. A pianist that tells you they don't play anything newer than Schubert will probably love the Vallotti to start. If someone plays modern as well as Classical or Baroque, then the "old-fashioned" ET of the Broadwood factory will usually be the best place to start. Your level of confidence in suggesting it will have as much to do with their perception as anything. People are often leary of leaving the status quo, but many of us, like Jon, are finding that that is what they really, musically, deep down, want to do. They just don't know it, yet. If you pitch it as a questionable thing, it will be scary to start with, but if you tell them that you now have a tuning that was used by master tuners of the last century and it has a slightly more "organic" feel, you will be surprised by the number of people that come to consider you a magician! It is much easier to get them over the hump to say early on that you will be glad to put the piano (at no charge, back into the everyday tuning if they find it doesn't help them. This takes the financial risk out of the picture and to a lot of people, that is a big gamble they will not be comfortable taking. (it has only happened to me four times in 8 years.....) You will also, if careful in your crusade, begin to make inroads with more serious musicians. I know of three places in the country right now where a more junior tuner is beginning to plow through the clientele of a more established technician that considers WT to be hogwash. This whole field can be rewarding in both the aesthetic and financial sense. Good luck, Ed Foote RPT
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