Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum ET - Ok, I'll come right out and say it

Of course pianists want their pianos to be tuned, but that is not a reason for you to tune them, especially if you don't like to tune them! You can leave this "anoying" work to folks like me, who love to tune and love pianos and love music!

ET accomplishes their need of tuning, that's right. But ET is not the only and unique temperament which accomplishes that. ET is only one among hundreds of other ways to correctly tune pianos.

Rafael:

If you give it a moment of thought, I am sure that you will be able to think of many things that you do not like to do, but do anyway. That is something we have in common.

Something that we do not have in common is believing a piano can be in-tune. It seems bizarre to me to declare that a piano cannot be in-tune, and then to go tune it! Well, maybe not bizarre if you also believe that a piano can be tuned any-which-way...

Well,
25 pages of debate….A subjective phrase such as “in-tune” which can mean something different to almost every person, and that is the simple reality.

The phrase “in-tune” will mean a different mathematical sequence for a chamber music player than it would for a rock guitarist and so on…..
Really when referring to “in-tune” for most it is a reference to the music....is the instrument in-tune with what is being played?

Dan:

It is clear from the OP and later posts that we are talking about pianos being in-tune. I do not think in-tune is a subjective when it comes to pianos. It all has to do with a piano being in-tune with itself. I do not see how deliberately varying the width of intervals can result in a piano being in-tune with itself.

Does this mean that you don't apply any stretch whilst tuning? This is the only way that all intervals could have the same width, surely?

Is this not what we obtain when tuning with different temperament sequences? I believe your focus is too narrow to ET in the belief that those particular intervals are considered “in-tune”.

It is just that someone else may not have the opinion that those particular intervals as being “in-tune” for them.

I tune with pure 12ths and any change in the other intervals is not deliberate, it is natural. But what I do isn't important. What those that deliberately tune various width intervals, in order to obtain a UT, is a different thing altogether.

I agree that different ET sequences can result in slightly different tunings, especially when made near or across a break. But the difference is not deliberate. It is an artifact.

But you mention "particular intervals." If these "particular intervals" are deliberately tuned to different widths in order to produce a UT, then how could the piano to be in-tune with itself?

Well Jeff,

In theory no piano is in tune with itself. They are in tune with the application to be used on that piano. If the application requires a Victorian or some other type of early music temperament then that would be considered in-tune with itself.

As technicians we know that a piano is deliberately tuned out of tune, out of pure so to speak...so all the keys sound good.

Expand this a little; what was considered in-tune 200 years ago. It certainly wasn’t ET. But the pianos of the day were considered “in-tune”

They were considered in-tune for the application applied.

Times change. So does the knowledge of certain things as we evolve...

"Times change. So does the knowledge of certain things as we evolve..."

Yes! And isn't that waht happened with the evolution of temperments? What was in-tune then is not what is in-tune today. And for good reason, too!

Hello there,

I am violinist and retired.
Now I have lot of time and I discovered a new temperament.
Using Microsynth I recorded one example and if you have some free time,please listen and tell me if do you like.

Thanks

Mr Dimitrov

Email: latchezar_d@yahoo.com

https://app.box.com/s/ub3uaub0ct17rcecdd607wx11phixl68

Any particular reason why you posted in this thread?

Ian

I agree. Instead of dredging up this train wreck of a thread, why don't you please start a new thread? The performance in the recording is very enjoyable. I wonder, though... How did you get wobbly unisons from Microsynth? Is this a feature? (DON'T ANSWER THAT, unless you start a new thread!!!)

--Andy