be badly
out, and you might produce an entire scale in which none of the chords
would be unbearably rasping. But this is not enough. You should aspire
to perfection, and not stop short of it.
It may seem to us who are musicians with thorough knowledge of the
simpler laws of music, that a scale of eight tones is a simple affair;
simply a natural consequence; the inevitable arrangement; but a
historical investigation will prove our mistake. We will not go into
the complexities of musical history; suffice it to say that the wisest
philosophers who lived prior to the fourteenth century had no idea of
a scale like that we have at the present day.
In piano tuning, as in other arts, many theories and conjectures have
been advanced regarding the end to be sought and the means by which to
gain it. There must be a plan--a system by which to work. The question
is: What plan will insure the most perfect results with the least
amount of labor? In Piano Tuning, this plan is called the Temperament.
Webster defines the word thus: "A system of compromises in the tuning
of pianofortes, organs," etc. Later on we will discuss fully what
these compromises are, and why they exist; for it is in them that the
tuner demonstrates his greatest skill, and to them that the piano owes
its surpassing excellence as a musical instrument, and, consequently,
its immense popularity. For the present, the term "temperament" may be
considered as meaning the plan or pattern from which the tuner works.
No subject of so great importance in the whole realm of musical
science has been so strangely neglected as the method of setting a
temperament. Even musicians of high learning, in other respects, give
little attention to scale building, and hence they differ widely on
this topic. There can be but one "best way" of doing a thing, and that
best way should be known and followed by the profession; but, strange
to say, there are a half dozen systems of setting the temperament in
vogue at the present time. The author has, in his library, a book on
"Temperament" which, if followed, would result in the production of a
scale in which every chord would be unbalanced, harsh and unbearable.
This is mentioned merely to call attention to the fact that great
differences of opinion exist among scientific men regarding this
important subject.
In the author's practice, he was curious to try the different methods,
and has tuned by all the systems of temperament in vogue
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