source file: m1401.txt
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 15:36:15 -0400

Subject: missing word and tying threads

From: Daniel Wolf <DJWOLF_MATERIAL@compuserve.com>

Paul Erlich is absolutely right, I should have included the word 'thinner=
'
in describing music wire on Early keyboards and on 'The Well Tuned Piano'=
=2E
There are indeed two ways to increase the harmonicity of a piano wire:
increase the tension, or use thinner wires.

Actually, since TWTP is played on a Bo"sendorfer, I would guess that the
wires are lighter anyways due to the lighter frame construction. But I
defer on this to the piano technicians out there. =


I would be curious to learn what Michael Harrison - who also happens to b=
e
a good piano technician - has found in his work with Young and on his own=

music.

My main point, however, remains: inharmonicity is not a factor in the
historic standardization of an approximate 12ET on the piano. (It is rath=
er
a factor in describing the nature of the historical approximation.) =


I believe this is, however obliquely, also related to the parallel thread=

on synthesizer resolution and JI. The degree of accuracy to which a Just
Intonation can potentially be approximated is exactly the same to which a=
ny
given temperament can be approximated. The difference between the two has=

this quality: knowing that a Just Intonation is intended, the listener's
judgement of the accuracy of the realization will _generally_ be sharper
than in the case of an intended temperament. (I include the qualifier
_generally_ here to include such exceptions as the experimental timbres
used by Sethares).

Daniel Wolf   =

 =