Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup tuning JI and Mean tone piano CD; 1907 Piano tuning book excerpt

Hello -

As promised, I'm posting a quotation from J. Cree Fischer's
book "Piano Tuning" which was first published in 1907.
He discusses temperament and the need for it in the piano.
His thought seems to be fundamentally driven by the belief
that all the 12 notes of the traditional chromatic scale must
work together as flexibly as possible without there being
any conspicuous "howling" combinations. Also, he believes
in a musical system which everyone can stick to which
will produce music not having glaringly dissonant intervals
or chords. Although he is a proponent of 12 tone equal
temperament, he clearly believes that at least
for isolated chords or simpler combinations of chords, these
could be tuned more harmoniously not using equal temperment.
At the time he wrote this, although equal temperament had
been universally or nearly universally adopted in music,
memories of the earlier system(s) had not yet completely
faded out. His book: "Piano Tuning" is available now as a
Dover book.

I've made a CD of piano music with 38 recordings of pieces
and improvisations performed on a Yamaha upright piano
which was tuned either in a just intonation scheme or in
quarter comma mean tone temperament for most of the
recordings. The one piece: "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton" is
performed in three different tuning versions: (1) quarter
comma MT temperament; (2) equal temperament; and (3)
sixth comma MT temperament, which is close to being
exactly midway between quarter comma MT temperament
and equal temperament. I am making the CD available
without charge to anyone on the tuning list who is
seriously interested in hearing it. If you would like me
to send you the CD, please e-mail me giving me an address
to which to send it. Please allow me some time to send it.
If I find myself unexpectedly deluged with requests,
(over 100) I'll have to charge for costs and it may take
me somewhat longer to get them out. I would welcome
comments on the CD. Some who have heard the CD have
been surprised and delighted at the sound of the piano
in the different tunings.

Dave Hill ascend11@aol.com
La Mesa, CA

LESSON 10

THEORY OF THE TEMPERAMENT

The instructions given in lessons 8 and 9 cover the subject
of temperament pretty thoroughly in a way, and by them
alone, the student might learn to set a temperament
satisfactorily; but the student who is ambitious and
enthusiastic is not content with a mere knowledge of how
to do a thing; he wants to know why he does it; why certain
causes produce certain effects; why this and that is
necessary, etc. In the following lessons we set forth a
comprehensive demonstration of the theory of Temperament,
requirements of the correct scale and the essentials of its
mathematics.

EQUAL TEMPERAMENT. Equal temperament is one in which
the twelve fixed tones of the chromatic scale* are equidistant.
Any chord will be as harmonious in one key as in another.

* The chromatic scale is a succession of all the half steps in
the compass of one octave. Counting the octave tone, it
contains thirteen tones, but we speak of twelve, as there
are only twelve which differ in name.

UNEQUAL TEMPERAMENT. Unequal temperament was practiced
in olden times when music did not wander far from a few keys
which were favored in the tuning. You will see, presently, how
a temperament could be set in such a way as to favor a certain
key (family of tones) and also those keys which are nearly
related to it; but that in favoring these keys, our scale must be
constructed greatly to the detriment of the "remote" keys.
While a chord or progression of chords would sound extremely
harmonious in the favored keys, they would be so unbalanced in
the remote keys as to render them extremely unpleasant and
almost unfit to be used. In this day, when piano and organ music
is written and played in all the keys, the unequal temperament
is, of course, out of the question. But, strange to say, it is only
within the last half century that the system of equal temperament
has been universally adopted, and some tuners, even now, will
try to favor the flat keys because they are used more by the mass
of players who play little but popular music, which is mostly
written in keys having flats in the signature.

Upon the system table (not included here) you
will notice that the first five tones tuned
(not counting the octaves) are C, G, D, A and E; it being
necessary to go over these fifths before we can make any tests
of the complete major chord or even the major third. Now,
just for a proof of what has been said about the necessity of
flattening the fifths, try tuning all these fifths perfect.
Tune them so that there are absolutely no waves in any of them
and you will find that, on trying the chord G-C-E, or the major
third C-E, the E will be very much too sharp. Now, let your E
down until perfect with C, all waves disappearing. You now have
the most perfect, sweetest harmony in the chord of C (G, C, E)
that can be produced; all its members being absolutely perfect;
not a wave to mar its serene purity. But, now, upon sounding this
E with the A below it, you will find it so flat that the dissonance is
unbearable. Try the minor chord of A (A-C-E) and you will hear
the rasping, throbbing beats of the too greatly flattened fifth.

So, you see, we are confronted with a difficulty. If we tune our fifths
perfect (in which case our fourths would also be perfect), our
thirds are so sharp that the ear will not tolerate them; and, if we
tune our thirds low enough to banish all beats, our fifths are
intolerably flat.

The experiment above shows us beautifully the prominent inconsistency
of our scale. We have demonstrated, that if we tune the members of the
chord of C so as to get absolutely pure harmony, we could not use the
chord of A on account of the flat fifth E, which did duty so perfectly as
third in the chord of C.

There is but one solution to this problem: Since we cannot tune either
the fifth or third perfect, we must compromise, we must strike the
happy medium. So we will proceed by a method that will leave our fifths
flatter than perfect, but not so much as to make them at all displeasing,
and that will leave our thirds sharper than perfect, but not intolerably
so.

*********

If the instruction thus far is understood and carried out, and the student
can properly tune fifths and octaves, the other intervals will take care
of themselves, and will take their places gracefully in any harmony in
which they are called upon to take part; but if there is a single instance
in which an octave or a fifth is allowed to remain untrue or untempered,
one or more chords will show it up. It may manifest itself in one chord
only. A tone may be untrue to our tempered scale, and yet sound
beautifully in certain chords, but there will always be at least one in
which it will "howl". For instance, if in the seventh step of our system,
we tune E a little too flat, it sounds all the better when used as third in
the chord of C, as we have shown in the experiment (above). But, if the
remainder of the temperament is accurate, this E, in the chord in which
E acts as tonic or fundamental, will be found to be too flat, and its
third, G sharp, will demonstrate the fact by sounding too sharp.

The following suggestions will serve you greatly in testing: When a
third sounds disagreeably sharp, one or more fifths have not been
sufficiently flattened. While it is true that thirds are tuned sharp,
there is a limit beyond which we cannot go, and this excessive sharpness
of the third is the thing that tuners always listen for.

The fundamental sounds better to the ear when too sharp. The reason
for this is the same as has already been explained above; namely, if
the fundamental is too sharp the third will be less sharp to it, and,
therefore, nearer perfect.

>From: Ascend11@aol.com
>
>I've made a CD of piano music with 38 recordings of pieces
>and improvisations performed on a Yamaha upright piano
>which was tuned either in a just intonation scheme or in
>quarter comma mean tone temperament for most of the
>recordings. The one piece: "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton" is
>performed in three different tuning versions: (1) quarter
>comma MT temperament; (2) equal temperament; and (3)
>sixth comma MT temperament, which is close to being
>exactly midway between quarter comma MT temperament
>and equal temperament. I am making the CD available
>without charge to anyone on the tuning list who is
>seriously interested in hearing it. If you would like me
>to send you the CD, please e-mail me giving me an address
>to which to send it. Please allow me some time to send it.
>If I find myself unexpectedly deluged with requests,
>(over 100) I'll have to charge for costs and it may take
>me somewhat longer to get them out. I would welcome
>comments on the CD. Some who have heard the CD have
>been surprised and delighted at the sound of the piano
>in the different tunings.

One question: What pieces did you record?

One suggestion: Charge.

John Link

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featuring original compositions as well as arrangements of instrumental
music by Brahe and Taylor, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Claude Debussy, Bill
Evans, Ennio and Andrea Morricone, Modeste Mussorgsky, Erik Satie, and Earl
Zindars.

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JI and Mean tone piano CD; 1907 Piano tuning book excerpt

🔗Ascend11@aol.com

🔗John Link <johnlink@con2.com>

🔗D.Stearns <stearns@capecod.net>

🔗Carl Lumma <clumma@nni.com>

🔗D.Stearns <stearns@capecod.net>