Temperaments...

[Ron Koval]

This whole temperament thing is such a tiny niche of the world, even among 
tuners!  I went through all my years of study as a bassoonist, assuming that 
ET was the norm, yet we trained for listening and adjusting to Just 
intervals. It wasn't until I really dug into the subject a few years ago 
that I realized that ET only exists in fixed pitch instruments, such as the 
piano and organ.   So much of the discussion is framed by what we THINK is 
the norm, not what actually IS the norm.   Think about that a minute.  Not 
in orchestras, not in bands, not in choirs, not in ensembles, ONLY when the 
piano is brought into the mix does ET enter the picture.

It becomes so obvious when you think about the speed of the thirds that we 
work so hard to control on the piano.  Do you think that an instrumentalist 
would change the speed of the beating of the third, based on where in the 
scale it lies?  How impossible would that be?!  I can just imagine:  "Let's 
see, I'm in the key of F, so the tonic should beat at 7bps, but the dominant 
should beat at around 10 bps... but wait, that's only in one octave... oh, I 
missed that measure, what's the next note?"

That means, even though ET is accepted everywhere as the norm, it really 
occupies a very small corner of musical expression in the world.  Anyone 
that tries to introduce an alternate tuning runs into the brick wall of 
ignorance about the specifics of musical tuning.

I feel that at this point, the best thing I can do is to speak directly to 
pianists about the existance of playable temperaments.  I hope to develop an 
article to submit to the magazines that cater to pianists.  Something to do 
with temperaments as just another way for them to add contrasts to the 
music.  So much of what we do already as techs give pianist greater 
contrasts, either through regulation, voicing, tuning, or rebuilding.

Ron Koval
Chicagoland

_________________________________________________________________
MSN Toolbar provides one-click access to Hotmail from any Web page – FREE 
download! http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200413ave/direct/01/