Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum My Piano in EBVT III

All 3 selections were 1. ET, 2. EBVT III.

Check out www.rollingball.com for graphical representations of the EBVT series, as well as a bunch of other alternate temperaments. Ask back if they don't make any sense - I know it took a bunch of time for me to understand!

Ron Koval
chicagoland

[...]
There are many misconceptions that people in general have about a piano being tuned in a non-equal temperament. The first thing they may imagine is some bizarre, wild sounding, micro-tonal, "experimental" tuning that would surely be found to be unacceptable. Those ideas do exist and they have their place but not for general modern piano tuning for which all music that is commonly played will work.

ET is really only a theory. It is ultimately impossible. Now, of course, when all intervals are tempered so that they sound alike to a well trained ear, that is accepted as ET. It is what virtually all piano technicians are taught and trained to do.

However, what someone is taught to do and what their interpretation of it may be can easily differ, sometimes quite radically. I have been a piano technician for 41 years, so I have heard just about everything imaginable. I have served the Piano Technicians Guild as one of its tuning examiners now for a good 20 years, so I have seen and heard the best, I have seen and heard mediocre attempts and I have seen and heard what in no way could be called or accepted as ET offered, produced and consumed with the belief and understanding that it is ET, the way all pianos are tuned.

Today, there are several ETDs that can provide for a fairly excellent tuning by a person with limited skills. Grandpianoman was a good example of that. Before these devices were in widespread use, however, what any aural tuner may have done covered a fairly broad spectrum. Only the very best aural tuners really tuned what today would be accepted as a broadcast quality tuning in ET. The rest would best be described as our local symphony conductor put it, "kinda, sorta, pretty even". Not really ET but an approximation of it close enough that you could not really distinguish one key from the other.

About 25 years ago, I first became aware that there could be other possibilities besides ET. There were 17th and 18th Century temperaments that were at that time used on organs, harpsichords and fortepianos. If one wanted to more authentically replicate a sound that was heard during that period, one would use such a system. I believed at that time what most people believe today, the modern piano is only to be tuned in ET. Yes, it changes the way the early music sounds but we like it that way anyway. We can also play any modern music too and we could not if we had some other kind of tuning.

The idea, however that each of the twenty four major and minor keys could still retain a distinct character interested me and I pursued it. Ultimately, the EBVT III that you hear in these examples is curiously identical to what Johann George Neidhardt came up with in 1724. Late in life, he like others (Rameau, Werkmeister, Mersenne and Marpurg) philosophized about a tuning system where all keys would be useful. They didn't have a way of constructing ET like we do today. They just wanted everything to be "kinda, sorta, pretty even".

I knew nothing about Neidhardt's "Circulating Temperament #2" but when the late Professor Owen Jorgensen RPT saw and analyzed my idea, he said it was virtually identical to the idea Neidhardt had 283 years ago. It was an attempt to have all keys accessible and acceptable but to still retain at least some distinction from one key to the next.

It is a Well Tempered idea. That means that the key of C Major sounds the most quiet and harmonious. With the addition of each sharp or flat in the key signature, the key tonality gains energy. This is principally found in how fast the Major Third beats.

Most people today would find the pure or beatless Major Third of the ancient (1/4 Comma) Meantone Temperament to sound "dead" or "flat", lacking resonance. Even if that were to be found appealing, the consequence of "spending it all in one place" is to have completely dissonant intervals elsewhere.

The idea behind true ET is to mitigate all dissonance which it does but the consequence of that is to also deprive all consonance. So, knowing that there was at least some margin of deviation from ET that almost anyone would find acceptable, I strove to create a well temperament that would retain some consonance but also limit the amount of dissonance to what would be found to be acceptable to contemporary perception.

I did it all by ear. I am a life long musician. I know what sounds in tune and what does not. I first designed the original EBVT in 1992 and had years of success with it. Still, some people, some times said there was still some harshness in it that was a little hard to take. Therefore, I set about to mitigate the EBVT further. The EBVT II was presented at the PTG convention in 2006 and found a large degree of acceptance. I found a way to mitigate it further the next year in 2007. The EBVT II is therefore now obsolete. I now tune almost every piano in the EBVT III.

I don't expect everyone to say upon comparisons that they prefer the EBVT III over ET but it clearly seems that most people do. Some people may be so accustomed to the sound of ET that virtually any departure from it rubs them the wrong way. I accept that.

All music has consonance and dissonance, even the earliest music. It is what leads our experience through a composition. To play nothing but consonant harmonies would lead us nowhere and would thus be unsatisfying. What the EBVT III provides is just a little more distinction between consonance and dissonance than what ET could provide. More tension, more release. Hopefully, that means a more satisfying musical experience.

So, if you do hear more dissonance at times than what you are accustomed to hearing, it is meant to be there and serves a purpose. It is often made analogous to salt or other spices in food. Some people do not want any at all, others can't get enough. If you hear more dissonance however, do you not also hear more consonance? Some people may say they like the extra consonance but still can't tolerate the extra dissonance, so they insist on the preference for the neutrality of ET. That is well understood.

Many people cannot distinguish the EBVT III from ET at all. Even I can't at times, depending upon the context. It is, in fact, only slightly different. I get seemingly contradictory remarks however from many skilled pianists. They describe the EBVT III as "smooth" but in reality, it is "rough" compared to ET. They describe the way I tune the outer octaves as "pure" even though they are deliberately "impure". Tuning is one action, the way the tuning serves the music can and does create illusions.

The EBVT III can be tuned by anyone who has aural tuning skills. It is usually said that it is actually easier to effect than ET. I don't have on my website yet a detailed description of how to aurally tune the octaves but I do have in my files some material that would be helpful. I have yet to edit that material for the general public. I can send what I have now to anyone who would be interested by e-mail. The address is: billbrpt@charter.net

There is also a way to use the electronic tuning figures with an ETD and to aurally manipulate the octaves or use the ETD in the direct interval mode. It is not difficult but it does have to be described.

There have been a few participants in the technicians forum who have learned to aurally tune the EBVT III and have embraced it. If I could only play for you the phone messages left for me by Grandpianoman after he tuned the EBVT III and began playing recordings on his player piano, those would be the best advertising I could ever have. He was quite enthused!

I would just finish by saying that the reason I tune nearly every piano in the EBVT III is that virtually all of my piano tuning clients love the way their piano sounds after I have tuned it. My clients range from limited skills to professional artists.

The description by Andy of what the artist, Michael Kasehammer seemed to enjoy is very often enjoyed by my clients of all levels of skill. I can well imagine what Mr. Kasehammer may often be presented for one of his concerts. He found that evening something that was above and beyond the usual and he made every use of what he found. I am glad he enjoyed it so much. That is what keeps me interested in piano tuning as a profession.

[...]The idea behind true ET is to mitigate all dissonance which it does but the consequence of that is to also deprive all consonance. So, knowing that there was at least some margin of deviation from ET that almost anyone would find acceptable, I strove to create a well temperament that would retain some consonance but also limit the amount of dissonance to what would be found to be acceptable to contemporary perception.

[...]I first designed the original EBVT in 1992 and had years of success with it. Still, some people, some times said there was still some harshness in it that was a little hard to take. Therefore, I set about to mitigate the EBVT further. The EBVT II was presented at the PTG convention in 2006 and found a large degree of acceptance. I found a way to mitigate it further the next year in 2007. The EBVT II is therefore now obsolete. I now tune almost every piano in the EBVT III.

[...]All music has consonance and dissonance, even the earliest music. It is what leads our experience through a composition. To play nothing but consonant harmonies would lead us nowhere and would thus be unsatisfying. What the EBVT III provides is just a little more distinction between consonance and dissonance than what ET could provide. More tension, more release. Hopefully, that means a more satisfying musical experience.

[...]Many people cannot distinguish the EBVT III from ET at all. Even I can't at times, depending upon the context. It is, in fact, only slightly different. I get seemingly contradictory remarks however from many skilled pianists. They describe the EBVT III as "smooth" but in reality, it is "rough" compared to ET. They describe the way I tune the outer octaves as "pure" even though they are deliberately "impure". Tuning is one action, the way the tuning serves the music can and does create illusions. [...]

That's good BDB...was just about to type the same thing.

You're welcome Jerry. That's fantastic that Bill is coming over to show you his EBVT III.

I just recently found out that Roy Peters (RoyP) www.cincypiano.com has been using EBVT I for his customers for a number of years. I think the more techs that hear it and then try it, the more they will include it in their bag of tuning tools. There is another tech here on PW that has also been using EBVT III for years.

Vairk-my-stair