Practical?...yes,
All purpose?...yes,
Most beautiful?...sometimes.
There is no question that ET has its place in musical history. And, I think that pure 12th ET is the best form of ET.
However, having had my ears attuned now to EBVT I have come to "tolerate" ET but not really like it anymore. I like SOME beating in my intervals (as a musician) but not gobs of it. This is probably why I am not totally drawn to Kellner since the virtually complete absence of beating (although nice) is just not my "cup of tea" (I prefer coffee anyway), and then the strong contrast in FBI is too much for me. EBVT gives me (musically) just what I like...a slow down in the intervals I use mostly, and a little more contrast in lesser used but necessary intervals AND what appears to be an overall blossoming of the entire instrument.
Best off all it is an all purpose temperament like ET but better (IMO). One can play everything and not be bothered by anything (in general).
Those reading this, please remember that I am speaking as a musician, not in technical terms here. But since in the end it is how the music sounds which is important, this is what I have come to prefer, and clients seem to agree.
Equal is not ALWAYS better. Nothing in the universe is EQUALLY divided up (as far as I know)...it's all slightly unequal...interesting.
Pwg
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Peter Grey
Stratham NH
603-686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 05-11-2019 15:24
From: Roshan Kakiya
Subject: Which 12-Tone Equal Temperament is the best / best compromise?
I think the best way of measuring the practicality of a tuning system is by its ability to make any music, that has been composed in the past, is being composed in the present and will be composed in the future, sound consistent overall.
Equal temperament achieves the maximum amount of consistency that is achievable by making every semitone equal in terms of size. Therefore, equal temperament is the most practical tuning system.
Equal temperament is, and always will be, the most practical tuning system for any music that has been composed in the past, is being composed in the present and will be composed in the future.
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Roshan Kakiya
Original Message:
Sent: 05-11-2019 11:50
From: Scott Cole
Subject: Which 12-Tone Equal Temperament is the best / best compromise?
"...classical music is dying and hotel-foyer-piano tuning and piano brand worshippers are in a bubble which leaves good music sounding fuzzy and not engaging with the emotional communication so much as it can do when crisply harmonically related."
Classical music is not dying, and even if it were, it would not be due to this or that tuning system. I am far from an expert on non-equal temperament tunings. But I believe that the specifics of temperament are far outweighed by the other aspects of musical performance, such as rubato, dynamic contrast and shading, tempo choices, and articulation. And even when all these things are "perfect," audiences know when a performance sounds canned or phoned-in. Compelling musical performance is a combination of all of the above, and audiences respond when they have witnessed the "total package."
To insist otherwise is reductionism approaching the absurd. It would be like claiming that the best possible measure of a car is its performance from zero to 60, that horsepower is the sole measurement of greatness, and that car ownership among young people is declining because cars just aren't powerful enough.
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Scott Cole, RPT
rvpianotuner.com
Talent, OR
(541-601-9033
Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2019 18:17
From: Mark Schecter
Subject: Which 12-Tone Equal Temperament is the best / best compromise?
Yes, David, but ...
If one is wanting to align (inherently inharmonic) partials to achieve coherent resonant reinforcement, consider this: 1) the strength of partials is roughly inversely proportional to the partial number, i.e. the 3:2 beat of the P5th and the 3/1 beat of the P12th are considerably higher in amplitude than the 5:4 of the M3rd; 2) the absolute speed of any given M3rd varies depending on the inharmonicity of the particular piano's scale, and you are downgrading P12th-ET M3rds for being slightly faster without, in fairness, crediting it for eliminating beats in 5ths and 12ths; and 3) many musical forms/styles depend upon unlimited access to all keys, with no special benefits afforded to any individual key or group of keys, and with the expectation of equal usability in all keys, including for transcriptions or transpositions of original music into non-original keys; therefore in my view, your attributing the declining audience for classical music to what you consider the drawbacks of P8-ET or P12-ET to the slight differences between either of them and your proposed variation, to me is a bit persnickety, and frankly unpersuasive.
Or, to put it another way, I think the fact that you assign a heavier burden of causality to rather minute differences in tuning than I think is warranted, while leaving blameless many more obvious contributing factors in performance, suggests you are putting rather more focus upon the subject of our discussions than I think the general concert-going public ever has or ever will. I know of no way to test whether either your sense of it or mine is correct, but I know less than some cognitive neuroscience geeks who might weigh in.
No offense intended, of course. Jmho.
Mark Schecter, RPT
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Original Message------
But tuning "pure" 12ths on a piano means stretching not just by the temperament but by the inharmonicity added to them. So the thirds get stretched wider. You're tuning to the unmusicality of the instrument rather than the harmony of the music.
Sorry to sound perverse and even pernickety perhaps but classical music is dying and hotel-foyer-piano tuning and piano brand worshippers are in a bubble which leaves good music sounding fuzzy and not engaging with the emotional communication so much as it can do when crisply harmonically related.
Best wishes
David P
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