There are two reasons why there is interest on changing the tuning system of the piano. 1. the physics of sound, and 2. its effect on musicality.For many contemporary musicians music has become merely a circus act because the true nature of music has been forgotten. It has become only a challenge in virtuosity, a spectacle, "man versus beast". Musicians have forgotten the purpose of music as - a language to convey emotion - to enable the mind to explore different dimensions of experience - and to heal. Healing requires gentle caressing, and harmony not of sound but of the vibrations within sound.Sound is made of vibrations, regular vibrations per second. These vibrations are either exactly related and part of the total sound, or they are not together and do not relate to each other, producing beats between them. This produces contrast as between- solid versus liquid- certain versus uncertain- calm versus stressedModern piano tuning does not maximise the numbers of vibrations which coincide - which then contrast with those sets of vibrations which do not coincide.The change to modern tuning was made between 1860 and 1920. At this time the current tuning was used increasingly, becoming universal. It is exact "equal temperament" where each semitone is an exact same distance apart.1. Physics of sound.A note which is an octave higher than another note is double the frequency of the lower note. Twice the number of vibrations per second. So "A" in the middle of the piano keyboard is 440 vibrations per second. The "A" above is 880 vibrations per second. The octave above that is 1760 vibrations per second, 1760 "Hz".When playing the organ, the sound can be made more interesting using "stops" to sound all three pitches, 440, 880 and 1760 from the same note.All sound is made of timbres in combination of these multiples of vibrations together.You can hear this when you sing a note and open your mouth to allow the extra sounds to be heard. I demonstrate this on a video . When a string is struck, all these frequencies vibrate exactly together to give the tone of the string. These frequences form part of the tone of the instrument.For example, let's tune a string to 100 vibrations per second - 100 "Hz". Giving good tone on the piano this string will produce vibrations at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800 and more vibrations per second.If we hold down a note at 100Hz in the bass whilst we strike the keys above, for 200, 400 and 800 (an octave above, two octaves, three octaves and four octaves) then these frequencies will excite and resonate the undamped bass string. The sound will continue to be heard in the bass string: even when the upper note stops sounding. This is demonstrated on where you can hear this effect.What is interesting is that when we play two notes together, such as 500 and 600 vibrations per second, then these vibrations will coincide 100 times per second. So the bass note is synthesized. It appears to sound without actually being played. It is a resulting or resultant note. This gives tone and sonority to the instrument and builds the sound.What becomes interesting also is when we sound together combinations such as 200 vibrations per second and 300 vibrations per second together. We also synthesize a sound at 100 vibrations per second. But the 200 vibrations per second string vibrates with harmonics200 400 800 1000 1200and the 300 string vibrates with the harmonics300 600 900 1200Then because 1200 vibrations is a harmonic of both strings, we will hear 1200 more strongly and it adds to the timbre, the tone, and can be heard sometimes as an extra note.If we sound 500 vibrations per second with this then we add the harmonic series500 1000 1500.Then a note at 1000 is heard in addition to the note of 1200 and in addition to the 100 vibrations per second. So the timbre of the sound of the instrument becomes reinforced even more. The problem with modern piano tuning is that the 300 500 600 700 frequencies are not tuned close enough to the perfect harmonic to add the sound reliably except in a jangling way.As musicians we have experienced a shimmering or glistening to the sound of the piano. Then we say "what a wonderful piano". But by doing this the piano presents the piano rather than presenting the intended effect of the music.2. Musically this has reduced the dimensions in which the music can speak, reducing them to a. loud versus softb. slow versus fastc. discordant versus harmoniousHave you read George Orwell 1984? The new language NEWSPEAK reduced the number of words to 300 so that people were limited by their language in their ability to think. This reduction of dimension in music has done the same to music.3. The meaning of "Chromatic"As musicians we have been bamboozled into thinking that the chromatic scale is simply going up each note by semitones C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C.We have forgotten what the language means. Photographers who are old enough took photographs as transparencies for projection on film called . . . KodaCHROME EctaCHROME FujiCHROME and our lenses are CHROMATICally corrected - which means that on the edges of things in our image we don't see fringes of a spectrum of colours.In the modern tuned instrument there is no hint of anything that we can call CHROMATIC demonstrating a spectrum of sound like a spectrum of colour.3. The solution.The tuning that I use exploits lots of perfect fifths (like F to C and E to B) in the exact ratios of 200:300. This brings many "thirds" such as F-A and C-E and G-B near to the ratios 500:400. It is close so that it resonates without making other thirds unpleasantly too imperfect such as B-D#. This is enough to return the musical scale to giving a spectrum of "colour" to the chromatic scale. This is necessary for composers "HAYDN", "MOZART", "BEETHOVEN", "SCHUBERT", "CHOPIN" and "LISZT" whilst not doing damage to the music of later composers.The spectrum of sound that we hear is demonstrated on The differences of sounds create a reward to the musician for playing sensitively, reacting to the different sounds differently as intended to be heard by the classical composers. Now the musician is rewarded in moulding the sound shapes in the phrasing of the music, conveying meanings unheard in modern tuning but intended to be heard.We have a corpus of recordings, many of which are acclaimed by musicians who have heard them:Music in "colour tuning" Bach on Harpsichord- see the comment Bach on piano Haydn Chopin on Steinway Boston played by Adolfo Barabino Brahms violin sonata accompanied by Barabino with Steinway Chopin 2nd sonata played by Barabino Mozart violin sonata B flat Chopin Ballade 4 Chopin 24 preludes Chopin 2nd sonata in unequal and equal temperament Chopin on Grotein Steinweg. This instrument brings to life the singing thirds. effect on melody Gershwin Debussy Benjamin Britten
Equal temperament does not allow CHROMATICism to express anything like a spectrum such as "colour" can be an analogue. CHROMATIC or "colour" tuning is demonstrated by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and others were very particular to write certain things expressing certain emotions in certain keys. This was because they expected an unequal system to produce the relevant effects in those keys. Tonally the early pianos did not have the dynamics of later instruments and key colour was a dimension in which they could speak beyond the confines of their more limited dynamics. For this reason, key colour was important and in fact Haydn is wholly unappreciated on account of modern tuned instruments being unable to express it.Today I tuned an instrument of 1802 and in knowledge gained from that checked a renowned instrument used by Sir Charles Hallé of 1859 to find the same.The harmonics which appear as overtones in a string are dependant significantly upon the proportion of the string at which it is struck by the hammer.Both 1802 and 1859 instruments demonstrated the same phenomenae: normally the 5th partial is prominent in many of the more modern instruments I've tuned, the "17th". In these two instruments the 17th was absent entirely and it was the 3rd partial, the "12th" which was dominant. In equal temperament the prominent 17ths beat with the wide equal thirds of equal temperament and this gives the instrument a glistening shimmering character as a result of which we admire the excellence of the piano. But with this absent and exchanged for the 12th, an octave and 5th, it's apparent that the resonance of the instrument is increased if then we use a temperament with lots of perfect 5ths which then accord and resonate with the natural harmonics of the strings of the instrument. This both solidifies and enhances the sound of the instrument as well as providing the groundwork for maximum key colour.Earlier composers such as Couperin deliberately exploited the smooth sweetness of meantone temperament leading to crisis points in the music where the eccentricities of the tuning are used to special effect.Equal temperament washes out all of these aspects of what used to add significantly to musicality, drama and emotion to be conveyed.Best wishesDavid P
history has judged that equal temperament is the way to go in most cases.
One of the most profound concerts I've recorded was a Steinway in A=432 in Brahm's violin sonata composed on the shore of Lake Thun in Switzerland. This recording is the first time I've heard this piece in which it's so calm that one can visualise the mirror still lake, with eddies of wind, birds and leaves and splashes of water on the shore. The calmness of perfect fifths and harmonious thirds is both subtle and profound.
(which was not done on a forte piano, which i find also to have a quicker decay time, … )