[pianotech] Do fourths beat faster?

PAULREVENKOJONES at aol.com PAULREVENKOJONES at aol.com
Sat Feb 7 21:23:58 PST 2009


ummmm, exactly? :-)
 
P
 
 
In a message dated 2/7/2009 11:01:38 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
rnossaman at cox.net writes:

Brian  Wilson wrote:
> Sounds really good.... thanks
> Can you also work  out the theoretical speed of 3rd, 10th, 17th etc.
> something like C4  and E4. I have answers with my calculations, but it may
> seem that your  answers may be slightly different.   Interesting...
>  conflicting published versions.. now I want to burn those books!
> So I  have another question... my "stretch" as been described as  
conservative
> by a concert tech, and he asked me for "more stretch" and  unfortunately the
> answer was not in English, but he showed me more  stretch from F4.I listen 
to
> many recordings and I have to tell you  that my favourite CD was recorded at
> Carnegie Hall unfortunately no  name of pianist, but the stretch is huge...
> and it sounds fantastic.  

First, I'm no tuning authority. There are legions of folks out  
there that are more knowledgeable, certainly more debative, 
and  demonstrably more skilled than I'll ever be at that corner 
of this  profession. But I have at least tried to pay attention 
as I slogged  through the years of seemingly random 
misinformation and resulting mutant  reality as it morphed 
through a sort of cheezy Lon Chaney Jr full moon  $2.98 special 
effects sequence regarding tuning. "Stretch" has always been  
the most mutant concept of the lot, meaning anything 
imaginable,  depending on who was stretching what. As the pixie 
dust began to  eventually settle, and the view showed the first 
signs of clearing up  somewhat, I realized that the "stretch" 
was going to be defined not by  someone's arbitrary and 
exclusive cognitive insight into the vast cosmic  mystery, 
which tended to be the universally useless (to mere mortals)  
ultimate answer through most of my professional existence, but 
by  where the test intervals fell. WOW! You mean there's 
something about this  tuning thing that actually makes some 
sort of organizational sense, where  how loud you can shout and 
how much dense smoke you can generate actually  counts less 
than what you can demonstrate? You mean something like stretch  
can actually be defined procedurally, and is dependent rather 
than  definitive?

Bingo! That's what I want!

>From my trailer park  "sharpened hammer" maintenance man 
perspective (remember this when you  reply), thirds, sixths, 
tenths, and seventeenths are incremental  smoothers, suitable 
for negotiating equal proportions to intervals within  an 
otherwise determined octave stretch. Fourths, fifths, octaves, 
and  double octaves are stretch indicators, and about the only 
useful ones  available to the aural tuner beyond the 
temperament octave(s). Splitting  the fourth and fifth after 
the initial octave rough in gets you in the  ballpark quickly, 
and lets you know when you can realistically spend time  on the 
faster beating intervals for further refinement. Further  
refinement does not, however, significantly change the 
4th/5th/octave  relationship that effectively defines octave 
stretch. Tuning to what the  piano claims it wants, by this 
criteria, results in everything falling  into place quite 
pleasantly, with the fourth and fifth beat rates being  
essentially similar throughout the scale. Too easy. That can't 
be  right. All I can offer is that you explore it aurally and 
find what you  find. If you find anything different, post what 
you did and what you found  as a result for someone else to 
explore.

Pumpkin time,
Ron  N




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