You can tuna fish, but you can't tune a piano

Slartibartfast · 07-09-2004, 01:21 PM

I've been playing piano for only about a year now, so I'm very much a novice in music theory. One thing I have recently become interested in is how musical instruments are tuned. By this I don't mean the mechanics of tuning, but rather the thinking and math that goes on behind the scenes of making notes sound in harmony with each other.

Every piano in the world is out of tune. Not only that, it is impossible to ever tune them perfectly to begin with. This isn't breaking news to people in music, but it is strange to someone just learning about it.

It has something to do with the fact that the notes in an octave can't be all in tune in relation to each other all at the same time. If one interval is tuned perfectly, another interval must be made more out of tune. The numbers don't divide evenly, so a 'remainder' has to end up somewhere. Modern instruments have this remainder divided up evenly so that all harmonies are slightly out of tune, but there are other ways of tuning an instrument so that some intervals are more in harmony than others.

If, for example, a piece by Mozart is played on a modernly tuned piano, something is lost in the translation because he wrote the music for an instrument that was tuned differently. At least, that's what I've read. I have a cd with a piece by Mozart played twice. Both times on the same piano, only tuned differently each time. I've listened to it several times and I can't tell the difference. I'm not even sure what I am listening for, the effect must be very subtle.

With a piano, someone has to go through the work of retuning all the keys, so changing the temperament from one methodology to another is not an easy thing. But a keyboard should be able to do this with the flip of a switch, since the sound is synthesized electronically. My $300 Yamaha doesn't do this, can anyone with a real keyboard tell me if theirs can? SM, if you're around, what is your take on all this? Is temperament just ivory tower music theory, or do real musicians care about this stuff?

07-09-2004, 01:21 PM	#1
Slartibartfast \|-0-\| <-0-> \|-0-\| Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: New Jersey Posts: 516	You can tuna fish, but you can't tune a piano I've been playing piano for only about a year now, so I'm very much a novice in music theory. One thing I have recently become interested in is how musical instruments are tuned. By this I don't mean the mechanics of tuning, but rather the thinking and math that goes on behind the scenes of making notes sound in harmony with each other. Every piano in the world is out of tune. Not only that, it is impossible to ever tune them perfectly to begin with. This isn't breaking news to people in music, but it is strange to someone just learning about it. It has something to do with the fact that the notes in an octave can't be all in tune in relation to each other all at the same time. If one interval is tuned perfectly, another interval must be made more out of tune. The numbers don't divide evenly, so a 'remainder' has to end up somewhere. Modern instruments have this remainder divided up evenly so that all harmonies are slightly out of tune, but there are other ways of tuning an instrument so that some intervals are more in harmony than others. If, for example, a piece by Mozart is played on a modernly tuned piano, something is lost in the translation because he wrote the music for an instrument that was tuned differently. At least, that's what I've read. I have a cd with a piece by Mozart played twice. Both times on the same piano, only tuned differently each time. I've listened to it several times and I can't tell the difference. I'm not even sure what I am listening for, the effect must be very subtle. With a piano, someone has to go through the work of retuning all the keys, so changing the temperament from one methodology to another is not an easy thing. But a keyboard should be able to do this with the flip of a switch, since the sound is synthesized electronically. My $300 Yamaha doesn't do this, can anyone with a real keyboard tell me if theirs can? SM, if you're around, what is your take on all this? Is temperament just ivory tower music theory, or do real musicians care about this stuff?

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