source file: m1602.txt
Date: Fri, 4 Dec 1998 14:22:18 -0500 (EST)

Subject: Re: TUNING digest 1601

From: Judith Conrad <jconrad@tiac.net>

When the digests are as long as they've been lately, i seldom get to the
bottom of them, but today I find this right on top, from Carl Lumma!

> Harpsichords may have the best harmonics of the bunch, from any era (of
> course, today's harpsichords are woefully similar to those made hundreds of
> years ago), but clavichord timbre has the least harmonic, weakest, and
> funniest amplitude envelope of just about any keyboard timbre imaginable.
> It is unusable for ratios above the 5-limit, and the difference between
> meantone and equal temperament (if you can set it at all!) is hardly
> noticable.

Yikes! I don't know where to start. I have a feeling I'm mainly listening
to the fundamental when tuning clavichords, at least more so than with
harpsichords and pianos. And in our world there's a lot of white noise in
that range -- one has to learn how to filter it out. When I built my first
clavichord, I had it in a room with a fish tank with a pump; I started by
learning I had to turn off the pump to tune. Then I started realising the
pump noise was annoying me anyhow, so I unplugged it permanently. The room
was more pleasant, the fish throve -- the noise had probably been annoying
them too. I have a feeling that people who wanted to tune the clavichord
in winter probably did it before they stoked the fire to make it roar,
also, for the same reason.

But I don't know how to even start arguing with someone who claims the
difference between Equal temperament and meantone is hardly noticeable on
a clavichord. Are you, sir, deaf?

> >I may also add, as a bit of music-cultural speculation, that the creation
> of >the the tuning profession probably had a net effect of densensitizing
> >players to the quality of keyboard intonation.
> 
> I'll agree with that!

Given that just about all good players of early keyboards in the modern
world do their own tuning, it's not relevant to the question of clavichord
performance. But I would submit that the creation of eletronic tuning
gadgets has desensitised some speculators in the field of tuning, from
listening to the actual sounds in front of them. Funniest amplitude
envelope indeed! That's music we're talking about. Bah!

Judith Conrad, Clavichordist
Piano and Harpsichord Tuner-technician