Original Message:
Sent: 12/1/2023 12:08:00 PM
From: Ed Sutton
Subject: RE: Alternative Tuning Requests
It's good to hear that musicians are exploring and schools are perhaps more open to expanding the range of acoustic sound.
I have wondered about the educational possibilities of the Keybird piano, a small, single strung vertical piano, capable, according to the company, of being tuned by the player.
It looks like the cost, delivered to the US, would be about $4000.
https://keybird-instruments.com/keybird-x1/
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Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-01-2023 10:37
From: Michael Reiter
Subject: Alternative Tuning Requests
David--"We are a School of Music, not a Museum of Past Practices". I think I will avoid saying anything of the sort to the Musicology faculty here!! LOL Here at U of O they even have their own building, Collier House, and are know here as the Collierites!! But I digress.
We are fortunate to have a dedicated "extended techniques" piano, a Steinway D, which takes the brunt of the service. I have recently had a request to tune the piano to Kellner to match the organ for a piano and organ piece. As suggested above it's not a big deal to change temperaments to most of the historically based tunings. We also have two historically based pianos pitched lower to accommodate such needs
As for policy we have been using the policy found on the CAUT page and generated as I recall by BYU and altered to our own needs. It gives us some clout, as a group, to support or decline any requests. I work with a production team that includes the stage manager, scheduler, building manager and recording staff. Together we are able to make these decisions without making any one person the spoiler. One of the concerns we have with so many events at once is the possibility of having a piano that doesn't match it's partner in a two piano event. It's just a matter of coordinating the service to accommodate various events. Some advance planning usually solves the issue.
We also have a "fines and fees" schedule for charges to anyone wishing special services. As we are a state school we can't charge for things not on the list. The above has served as a reminder to update that schedule to include tuning to other temperaments/pitches.
Mike Reiter
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Michael Reiter RPT
Eugene OR
(541) 515-6499
Original Message:
Sent: 12-01-2023 09:54
From: Dave Conte
Subject: Alternative Tuning Requests
Alan,
A bit off topic, but since you broached the subject, we have Balinese Gamelan
here. A guest master was here earlier in the semester. I observed how they are tuned.
Last spring I gave a presentation about wave propagation and how it related to music and specifically gamelans.
It was interesting to hear the master's explanation which closely resembled the one you were given.
--
Original Message:
Sent: 12/1/2023 8:29:00 AM
From: Alan Eder
Subject: RE: Alternative Tuning Requests
Hi David,
Any chance the piece you tuned to a Balinese slender scale was composed by Bill Alves? Decades ago, we did a concerto of his for piano and our gamelan. Cool sounding piece in the end, but it took a lot of time turning a cool concept into hard reality. From what I was able to surmise, no two gamelans are pitched exactly the same or tuned to precisely the same temperament. Add to that the fact that most gamelan instruments come in pairs that are deliberately "de-tuned. (When I was a student at CalArts, I asked our gamelan master, I Nyoman Wenten, why the paired instruments were not tuned together. I'll never forget his answer, "If they were tuned together how would you know there was more than one of them?" This aesthetic is a world away from the ideal of twenty violins trying to sound like one big violin.)
Best,
Alan
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Alan Eder, RPT
Herb Alpert School of Music
California Institute of the Arts
Valencia, CA
661.904.6483
Original Message:
Sent: 12-01-2023 07:47
From: David Graham
Subject: Alternative Tuning Requests
Alan: I have always been open to these requests. We are a School of Music, not a Museum of Past Practices. It starts with a conversation with the performers about what they need, and then we figure out which piano to use. Depending on how exotic the temperament is, 6 tunings seems likely, but more if they need an instrument to rehearse with. Often that can be handled by a digital keyboard, but not always. Two years ago a former student came back to NIU to play a piece with piano tuned to Slendro scale for Gamelan. Pretty wild, so we used a Kawai upright for that project. There were maybe 10 tunings involved, result was quite a good performance, was not hard to do , though Verituner sometimes had issues with which note it was tuning. The instructions in cents deviation was not super precise, but that doesn't matter- neither is a gamelan tuning. Octaves were just clean- and non altered notes were muted so they wouldn't ring out of tune with the altered notes. I could have done the tuning on one of the concert grands but they were both pretty busy at that time in the calendar and performers were just thrilled to have an acoustic piano of any type for the performance. That's how we handle these requests. Start with a conversation, and have the ability to say no if it messes up things for the rest of the school. I have never had to say no, but can if need be.
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David Graham,RPT
Graham Piano Service, Inc
Sycamore IL 60178
815-353-5450
Original Message:
Sent: 11-30-2023 07:44
From: Alan Eder
Subject: Alternative Tuning Requests
Dear Colleagues,
We are in the process of creating a standardized policy for requests for alternative tunings (either pitching pianos at other than A=440 or thereabouts, or a tuning system other than Equal Temperament).
As part of this process, we would like to know what policies are in place in that regard at your music school, conservatory or concert venues.
Thanks,
Alan
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Alan Eder, RPT
Herb Alpert School of Music
California Institute of the Arts
Valencia, CA
661.904.6483
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