OFF (*was: neurology)

[Farrell]

I have quite a bit of difficulty listening to music played in a WT and being able to identify any specifics about it - just simply my lack of ear training. However, I a while back I did tune an old upright in my shop in one of the meantone temperaments - I forget which one, but I simply looked for the one with the biggest offsets and gave it a whirl. Just wanted to see what the other end of the spectrum sounded like. I then had my son play Jingle Bell, or Froggy in the Pond or some other elementary tune that had no sharps or flats. I heard the music, I saw the hands moving, but it sounded DOA! It was like, toooo in-tune. Truly bizarre. I had my wife then play Chopin C# minor Prelude #20. YIKES! I thought she knew how to play that! Very discordant.

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos@earthlink.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2002 3:17 PM
Subject: Re: OFF (*was: neurology)


> In view of Susan's story about the Chopin prelude, has anyone considered
> that WT's might create a different problem in that the keys with no
> accidentals might sound too clean?  Everybody talks about the "excitement"
> of the more remote keys.  How about the lack of "excitement" in the keys at
> the other end of the spectrum.  Might not somebody playing in WT find that
> the key of C sounds a bit dull.
> 
> David Love
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Susan Kline" <sckline@attbi.com>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: May 05, 2002 11:58 AM
> Subject: Re: OFF (*was: neurology)
> 
> 
> > At 02:12 PM 5/5/2002 -0400, Ed wrote:
> > >    Reason's for Chopin's choice of keys has been ascribed to both the
> extra
> > >brilliance found in the remote keys (In WT) helping his weak frame
> produce
> > >strength of sound, and also to the hand positions he preferred. This
> doesn't
> > >definitively explain why he wrote the way he did, though, so I don't
> > >know,either.
> >
> > One little experience -- I went to Jim Coleman, Sr.'s class at a
> convention,
> > where he talked about his temperament using untempered fifths -- the one
> > which leads to very wide octaves. We had his usual comparison between that
> > equal but wide temperament and another piano which he had tuned. We were
> > fooled, as usual, and failed even to note that the second piano was tuned
> > in a very non-equal temperament, one of his own quite strong Wells. We
> only
> > twigged when he ran successive thirds for us.
> >
> > Anyway, one of the pieces he played was a Chopin Prelude, and it sounded
> > really spicy and nice. Then he transposed it so that it was in a simpler
> > key, with the narrow thirds, etc. YUCK!!!! Bland, gutless, no strength
> > to the harmonic motion, it just SAT there. An eyeopener for me. Still,
> > it was better than meantone, with the bad fifths as well ... (Just My
> Opinion,
> > Folks ...) (Wearing Conrad's newest, best flamesuit.)
> >
> > Susan
> >
> >
> 
>