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Harpsichords and Related Topics

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From:
Borys Medicky <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Harpsichords and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:58:21 -0500
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I agree that tuning by ear is a valuable skill.  Given the harpsichord's brilliant tone, it's pretty easy to hear overtones and beats as you tune; far easier than on a mellow-sounding instrument like the piano.  As long as you're not tuning equal temperament, you will soon learn what to listen for.  Start out by knowing where to hear beats as you tune perfect fifths and fourths, major and minor thirds (having first mastered unisons and octaves, which are very easy).  With these in hand you have a good head start for almost any temperament.

Somewhat controversially, I'd suggest examining Owen Jorgenson's pamphlet "Tuning the equal-beating temperaments by ear".  Although Jorgensen is not at all a reliable source for historical temperament information, he has this little chart showing where the easily audible overtones appear in commonly-tuned intervals (the same as what I listed above) which, many years back, I found invaluable for learning purposes.  You can take just about everything else he says with a big pinch of salt.

That being said, I think there are legitimate scenarios for using an electronic tuner:

-tuning in a noisy environment
-tuning for a solo harpsichord recording, where being able to maintain a consistent pitch level and temperament makes subsequent editing easier
-when one person has to tune 2 or more harpsichords identically for a concert or rehearsal
-tuning equal temperament

As far as equipment goes, I wholeheartedly concur one should just use a smartphone app, and in particular PitchLab Pro.  Cleartune is another app that's recommended by some, but I don't advise using it because it's pretty clear further development has been abandoned, at least on Android devices.  The app actually has custom temperament programming, but those features are now impossible to access because Android phones today lack the physical menu button that older phones used to have, which triggered the submenu for adding custom temperaments.  The app ought to show the overflow menu (the one with three dots) in places where the old physical menu button was needed, but it doesn't.  I and others have contacted the app's author pointing this out, but he has never updated the Android version of the app, and I presume he has lost interest in ever doing so.

BM

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