On Jan 18, 2007, at 12:12 AM, John Howell wrote:
Temperament is only necessary--and a necessary evil at that--for keyboard instruments that cannot make microtonal pitch adjustments.
OK, I'm with you so far.
Tuning involves pure intervals, including the thirds or course. Call it just intonation, if that makes you happy, or call it Fred. Stringed instruments can do it, although we're trained not to.
Apparently just intonation is not just a name, nor is it what we think of as modern intonation (though there are similarities, especially involving perfect intervals). It is a real system, based on the simplest relationship between the frequencies of the two notes making up the interval.
I went to the Just Intonation website to listen to the examples, and I don't know about it. It is all well and good for 4ths and 5ths inside an octave, and even the 3rds and 6ths are fine (though I'm not sure that anyone tunes EVERY third this way in any kind of music; they seem to be OK for tonic chords, though). As far as I can make out, many of the early tuning systems differ particularly on the thirds, which can be in a fairly wide area and still sound like they are thirds. And even in the harmonic series, there are several different versions of major and minor thirds, almost all of which can sound fine in different contexts.
But the "pure" seconds and sevenths are way out. Unless one is an alphorn player, I can't recall ever having heard these used in any kind of common practice. I think most modern players tune them as the result of two stacked 4ths or 5ths, which makes them a bit flexible. I wouldn't know about early methods. Adding octave displacements opens up another can of worms, too.
I have been watching this thread avidly, and I am full of admiration for practitioners of early music such as Johannes, who deal with these kinds of issues with such clarity of thought, not to mention the ability to pull it off consistently in performance! It's tough enough for me (on trombone and tuba) to pull off consistent modern tuning and fit in with my colleagues, never mind the different early systems.
Christopher _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
