source file: m1477.txt
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 16:20:33 -0400

Subject: RE: From Dave Hill

From: "Paul H. Erlich" <PErlich@Acadian-Asset.com>

The MIME problem should be fixed. My heartfelt apologies if it isn't.

>My piano is retuned to have three chains of just fifths, one
>starting on Eb, one starting on G at a just major third above Eb,
making
>the fifth C to G flat by 21.5 cents, and the third chain of fifths
starting
>on B at a just major third above G.

This is exactly one of the tunings on my Ensoniq. It is identical to
Ellis' "Duodene", is it not?

I was playing with this the other day and started playing Pachelbel's
Canon in D. D major is in fact one of the two "major" keys available in
this tuning (the other is Bb), where each key has the I, iii, IV, V, and
vi chords in tune. The Canon has exactly these chords, so it should have
worked perfectly, right? Not at all. The E in the melody over the
B-minor chord, though just a passing tone, sounded horrible, and the B
neighbor tone sounded awful over the A-major chord. I must conclude that
the only reasonable keyboard tuning for even the simplest triadic
diatonic music is some form of meantone temperament.

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End of TUNING Digest 1477
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