> This is also to do with the fact that the twelfth-root-of-two (or 1.059)
> ratio applies to `physically ideal' strings that have no diameter. If
> you look at a piano with the various lids and covers off you will find
> that this is obviously not true, especially for the bass notes. It turns
> out that a piano tuning must be `stretched' somewhat for the piano to
> sound in tune with itself on account of these deviations, and good piano
> tuners are supposed to cater for this.
> As a pianist, I don't know what to make of all this varied-interval
> business. On the one hand, I'm half glad that I don't have to worry
> about it; on the other hand it seems that I can't really play Scottish
> music, which I think is a pity :^(
There's nothing to stop you tuning a piano to just intonation, meantone
or whatever, and fortepianos used for early music are sometimes tuned
that way, with Werckmeister III being the most popular alternative and
the most likely tuning that Nathaniel Gow grew up with (presumably the
tuner still makes some compensation for string stiffness as described
above, but early piano strings were lighter so there is less to correct).
Much of Terry Riley's music in the last few decades has been for pianos
or other keyboards tuned in just intonation. If you stuck to playing in
G, D and A, going back to Gow or forward to Riley might even improve the
sound of the piano for Scottish music.
There was a spectacular example of tweaked piano tuning on Radio 3 last
week; a concerto for piano and gamelan orchestra by Lou Harrison, in
which the piano was tuned to match the gamelan. Really nice piece.
A Scottish answer to that might be getting a gamelan made tuned to the
pipe scale so it could play along with a pipe band. I hereby trademark
the band name "Shotts and Dyak Head" for the result.
=================== <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> ===================
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