I agree that most pianists are unfamiliar. I'm not sure about the upper level performers who really do the research into the history. I've never asked them but it would be interesting to inquire with a Brendel or Perahia or other players at that level what they know and what their reasoning is about using or not using them. I've clearly not tuned as many WTs as you have for customers but I have tuned enough to get a sense of the response. Overall, it's mixed. Some people like it some don't, and some can't tell (at least with the mild WTs). Many have the same response that I do which is that it's interesting and not unmusical, but they don't prefer it. I've had the best reaction from people who have two pianos and one is tuned in WT and one in ET so that they have the option of using it or not, or people with very small spinets and similar instruments where the WT mixed with their tendency to play in keys with relatively few sharps and flats gives an overall impression of greater consonance. Generally, I've found that while people find it interesting, they don't want it to be their everyday tuning. I've had mild WT's on the piano that my kids practice on for a couple of years now--I can't even remember which one it is at this point (tells you how often I tune my own piano), but it's a pretty mild one. Mostly it's there because I wanted the opportunity to listen to it myself over time and I just never took it off. Originally I had a somewhat stronger one on and I found it quite objectionable. Now by strong I mean something like Young or Valotti which is not strong by most people's standards. The one on there currently is much more mild than that. I think that one thing that ET does, and this is speculative, is that when the thirds and sixths are all uniform in width, the brain, which wants to hear the intervals as just, adapts to it and the "out of tuneness" of those intervals becomes somewhat invisible and ameliorated by the similarity and predictability of the intervals through the keys. (String players often can't get past that as they are used to aiming for just on their own instruments and so the piano just drives them crazy--but they live with it.) When the intervals change in width as you go from key to key, the unexpected quality of the changing intervals bring it to our attention and into our consciousness that they are, in fact, not just and are more or less out of tune depending on the key. Personally speaking, I notice that and it reeks havoc with my sense of balance in the tuning of the instrument. I can see how others might be intrigued or stimulated by that unexpected quality but to me it just reminds me that something is out of tune. David Love davidlovepianos@comcast.net -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of A440A@aol.com Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 2:19 PM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Re: (careful, it is about temperaments) Davcid writes: << The problem with these types of explanations is that they ignore the data. In reaching a conclusion you first have to look at the data and what that tells you. After that you look at factors which might mitigate against your conclusion. The data suggest that people who are presumed savvy about issues such as temperament are not choosing them.<< My data is primarily from usage today. I don't presume any artist is savvy about temperament because I have never found one that is. I think the majority of them are totally in the dark about the history of intonation since 1700 and will remain so until the actually hear the difference. I have repeatedly been told by pianists freshly introduced to WT that nobody has ever brought the subject up! >>When you stick to your conclusion (really your opening premise) in spite of the data then it suggests a bias. You're really starting with a conclusion and then looking for reasons to support it rather than collecting the data and reaching a conclusion based on what you find. >> My opening premise in my career was that the more equal the temperament, the better. After becoming familiar with alternatives and offering them to pianists, I was profoundly amazed at the positive reaction I was getting for these "weird" tunings Jorgensen proposed. I was also amazed at how attracted pianists I have tuned these for were. If I say nothing and let the tuning speak for itself, the response has been overwhelmingly positive about 94% of the time. I have now come to a different conclusion; that for the majority of listeners in blind comparisons, the ET pianos sound harsh and somehow out of tune when up against at mild WT. regards, Ed Foote RPT http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html _______________________________________________ Pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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