Pianist Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 The answer as to why the bagpipe scale is as it is is down to drones. This - http://publish.uwo.ca/~emacphe3/pipes/acoustics/pipescale.html - has more information than anybody needs on tunings but makes the point that the notes have to be consonant / congruent with the drones to produce a nice sound. (?? a nice sound on the pipes ??). The principles of tuning are similar to that of an a cappella choir or barbershop quartet who also use perfect tuning to get accurate harmonies without unpleasant overtones which might arise from mean tone tunings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Molkentin Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 19 minutes ago, Pianist said: The answer as to why the bagpipe scale is as it is is down to drones. This - http://publish.uwo.ca/~emacphe3/pipes/acoustics/pipescale.html - has more information than anybody needs on tunings but makes the point that the notes have to be consonant / congruent with the drones to produce a nice sound. (?? a nice sound on the pipes ??). The principles of tuning are similar to that of an a cappella choir or barbershop quartet who also use perfect tuning to get accurate harmonies without unpleasant overtones which might arise from mean tone tunings. Very interesting reading again, thanks for posting. However, in the end you may have wanted to be referring to ET rather than MT tunings I guess... Best wishes - Wolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little John Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 4 hours ago, Wolf Molkentin said: However, in the end you may have wanted to be referring to ET rather than MT tunings I guess... Equal temperament (ET) is a special case of mean-tone temperaments (MT); twelfth comma mean-tone in fact. When we refer to mean-tone temperaments we usually mean moderate ones like fifth or sixth comma; but they're all compromises. Pianist is right - a cappella singers can avoid compromises and adjust each chord to true intervals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Molkentin Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Little John said: Equal temperament (ET) is a special case of mean-tone temperaments (MT); twelfth comma mean-tone in fact. When we refer to mean-tone temperaments we usually mean moderate ones like fifth or sixth comma; but they're all compromises. Pianist is right - a cappella singers can avoid compromises and adjust each chord to true intervals. Hi John - thank you for the further clarification. What you're mentioning in your final sentence I did already know, nevertheless it never occurred to me that in fact ET can be regarded as just a perfectly levelled MT tuning. However - well-tempered/"irregular" tunings (Werckmeister f.i.) still couldn't be referred to as MT, could they? Best wishes - Wolf Edited June 5, 2018 by Wolf Molkentin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now