You may be interested to know of a recent paper published in FoMRHI Quarterly No 110 (November 2008) by John Catch: 'Temperaments for gut strung... instruments.
He shows (yet again) that with straight frets it is not possible to produce a 'meantone' (properly so-called) fretting pattern. The problem is, of course, that even for a fixed key the chromatic/diatonic steps between frets changes from fret to fret AND from string to string; not to mention changes in key and tuning. He allows modification of a few (mostly lower ie close to the nut) frets but points out that this is very far from a proper meantone fretting across all strings and that it is more accurate to describe such as a modified (equal) temperament. Catch also, and amusingly, points out the denial in the face of evidence and mathematical analysis by advocates of such a 'meantone' on the lute. MH --- On Fri, 7/11/08, David Tayler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: David Tayler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Temperaments, the second night > To: "lute-cs.dartmouth.edu" <[email protected]> > Date: Friday, 7 November, 2008, 12:12 AM > You basically have a set of options, David is correct that > you can > set a high fret for example to get a true G sharp and get > by without > the tastini for select pieces. > And you can look for pieces without an F sharp, there are > some nice > ones, and so on. I find for a lot of the music I like to > play that a > G sharp on the third fret tastino and and F Sharp and C > sharp on the > first fret is very nice for solo playing, I can fret the A > flat, D > flat with my little finger. But it is sort of annoying. > Once you get > used to the sound it is tough to go back, just did a set in > meantone, > then next day stated a set in "not meantone" and > everything seems > dull and harsh--there are still lots of outta tune notes in > the > ensemble, but the resonance is different. I think the > resonance > difference is the most important difference. > dt > > At 10:04 AM 11/6/2008, you wrote: > >If anyone here ever tuned to unequal temperament > without tastini, > >please write your experience. (or even quotes from > early fretted > >players) > >I will start my testing tomorrow, but i will still like > to read what > >other people done. > > > >and of course...the other way around. how you handled > the new little > >fret, how you know when to press on the correct > position with it. > > > >I know my own testing will be much better, but i also > wonder how... > >lets stay....F. Milano tuned his lute :-D, I'm > really looking for the > >pure tunes offered by other temperaments but i > don't want to play > >"wrong" > > > >I play renaissance music, and medieval, sometimes i go > to the early > >Baroque, but not later. And its a new experience for > me, I'm actually > >excited... > > > >On Nov 6, 2008, at 12:52 AM, David van Ooijen wrote: > > > >>On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 3:28 PM, Omer katzir > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>>I just wonder (again) what will happened if i > wont use tastino? lets > >>>say...in Pythagorean tuning or Aron's > Meantine? > >> > >>I don't know about Aron's Meantine, but > Pythagorean temperament > >>without tastini shouldn't be too much of a > problem. The single line > >>music you are likely to play will allow for > refingering the offending > >>notes somewehere else on the fingerboard. > >> > >>Anyway, the best way to find out is to try and > judge for yourself. > >> > >>David > >> > >> > >>-- > >>******************************* > >>David van Ooijen > >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>www.davidvanooijen.nl > >>******************************* > >> > >> > >> > >>To get on or off this list see list information at > >>http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >
