Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site eosp1.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!eosp1!mcmillan From: mcmillan@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Re: Tempered scales Message-ID: <665@eosp1.UUCP> Date: Sat, 10-Mar-84 23:21:04 EST Article-I.D.: eosp1.665 Posted: Sat Mar 10 23:21:04 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 11-Mar-84 07:03:10 EST References: <6082@decwrl.UUCP> Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton, NJ Lines: 21 To put it more simply, when playing or hearing harmonic music, humans clearly prefer untempered intervals. A singer or string instrument can easily play untempered pitches, and can easily shift to other untempered scales when the music modulates. Wind players can do this only with great difficulty, and the piano (and similar instruments) can only be tuned for one untempered scale (and a very limited modulation capability) at one time. Therefore, musicians are trained to play temepered scales. However, untempered sounds can be much sweeter, and certainly occur in unaccompanied vocal music. One summer I tuned a harpsichord to an untempered scale, and played quite a bit of baroque music on it. I liked the sound very much, but I had to be very selective about the keys (and degree of modulation) of the music I played. - Toby Robison allegra!eosp1!robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison princeton!eosp1!robison (NOTE! NOT McMillan; Robison.)