Klarinet Archive - Posting 001174.txt from 1998/07

From: "Steven J Goldman, MD" <gpsc@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Equal temperament, "pure" temperament, etc.
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 11:02:55 -0400

But, the "natural" scale has a very specific mathematical/acoustical basis.
Our ears (at least most of our ears) have a certain amount of play, and so
for practical reasons, particularly with keyboard instruments, various
adjustments (tempering) of the scale have been applied for hundreds of
years. And they ARE bastardizations (mathematically) of the natural scale,
although very useful and likable bastards. Also, to people of the
Pythagorean persuasion, the natural scale was the law of God(s).

Steve
sjgoldman@-----.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Edwin V. Lacy [mailto:el2@-----.edu]
Subject: [kl] Equal temperament, "pure" temperament, etc.

We tend to speak of tuning and temperament as though there were some kind
of divinely-ordained tuning etched in stone which is the "correct" way of
dividing the octave, and therefore, that equal temperament is a
"bastardization" of the "natural" or "pure" way of tuning instruments and
chords.

The fact is that we tend to tune chords and melodies in such a way that
they sound correct to us at the moment. And, what sounds correct is
whatever our ears are used to hearing. Since the equally-tempered scale
has been with us for more than 250 years, that is pretty well ingrained in
our experience by now. In some other cultures there are other ways of
dividing the octave which sound correct to those familiar with those
musical traditions.

There is one thing which is natural about this, and that is the overtone
series, or the harmonic structure of any tone. The music of every culture
in the world, every historical period and every musical instrument
exhibits exactly similar characteristics with regard to this feature of a
given musical tone. (I am familiar with the concept of inharmonicity in
the grand piano and other instruments, but this is really tangential to
this discussion.)

However, much as we might wish to be able to do so, and as much as some
musicians might claim extraordinary powers in this regard, we really can't
hear the pitches of all the overtones of a note. Rather, we perceive the
harmonic structure of a tone as a the quality or "color" of the sound.

As far as I know, there is no law of God which says that the third step of
the major scale must relate in any particular way at all to the fifth
partial of the tonic pitch of that key. I recommend that we not fall into
the trap of considering equal temperament as an inferior tuning.

Ed Lacy
*****************************************************************
Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
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