Tuning Renaissance and Baroque Instruments: Some Guidelines (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Harpsichord: Its Timbre, Its Tuning Process, and Their Interrelations
2013
At the Edinburgh University Collection of Historical Instruments (EUCHMI) there are two virginals where the strings are plucked extremely close to 1/4 of their length over a substantial part of the compass. Principles of Acoustics dictate that in such cases the fourth partial of the resulting sound is unlikely to be produced with any appreciable magnitude. Similar situations affecting different partials also occur when the plucking point is located at other fractional parts of the string length, such as 1/3 or 1/5. A database of plucking points, based on museum catalogues, was created and analysed, so that pitch regions are identified where such phenomena are likely to occur for different categories of instruments. The main cue used in harpsichord tuning is related to beat phenomena produced by partials of two simultaneously played notes, whenever there is a small difference between their frequencies. Partial four being relevant for major thirds and perfect fourths, these intervals may result less accurate, or less reliably tuned, in instruments like the above virginals. Historical sources were surveyed for expressions which describe the cues that tuners were supposed to use in identifying the ideal of an interval. Although expressions such as Schwebungen are mostly related with beats, broader meanings are discussed. Hints of the use of alternative, not beat-related cues, are identified. A series of practical tuning experiments was performed in which selected intervals were tuned, the accuracy of the tuning process being assessed from recordings, which were subjected to spectral analysis. Only cues that could be related to historical sources were used. The effects of factors such as pitch, pitch region, instrument, interval type, and particularly the potential absence of relevant partials were investigated, statistical methods playing a substantial role in the research. A logbook was created, where the experimenter detailed the cues used for each tuned interval in one of the experiments. The recorded information provided some insight into a number of strategies a tuner may use for coping with difficulties in cases of absent or weak partials. The impact of inharmonicity on the exact size of just intervals was also examined, both on theoretical grounds and based on data from the experiments. A number of case studies were included, where a comparison was made between missing partial notes predicted from plucking points and the degree of absence of those partials in the actual spectra for some historical instruments.""
2022
Two simultaneously sounding tones differing in frequency by a few Hertz generate a waveform, whose amplitude modulation relates to the psychoacoustic quantity <fluctuation strength=. Following the historic approaches of sensory consonance, any deviation from a pure interval yields dissonance. However, imperfect intonation is quite common in musical performance; some instruments are even slightly detuned by intention. Examples are various flat and sharp CELESTE ranks in the Pipe Organ or the VIOLIN double-reed and MUSETTE triple-reed stop of the Accordion. Undulating sounds are pictured as pleasant, shimmering, or celestial. This work explains why mistuned dyads may still appear as consonant sounds. Moreover, it shows that the tonal timbre of harmonic complex tones can change noticeably and periodically with the beat cycle. The usual practice of CELESTE tuning Pipe Organs and Accordions has been analyzed to get an overview. Combining this information with data on the just noticeable frequency difference of our hearing allows deriving general tuning progression rules.
Cutoff frequencies and cross fingerings in baroque, classical, and modern flutes
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2003
Baroque, classical, and modern flutes have successively more and larger tone holes. This paper reports measurements of the standing waves in the bores of instruments representing these three classes. It presents the frequency dependence of propagation of standing waves in lattices of open tone holes and compares these measurements with the cutoff frequency: the frequency at which, in an idealized system, the standing waves propagate without loss in such a lattice. It also reports the dependence of the sound field in the bore of the instrument as a function of both frequency and position along the bore for both simple and ''cross fingerings'' ͑configurations in which one or more tone holes are closed below an open hole͒. These measurements show how ''cross fingerings'' produce a longer standing wave, a technique used to produce the nondiatonic notes on instruments with a small number of tone holes closed only by the unaided fingers. They also show why the changes from baroque to classical to modern gave the instruments a louder, brighter sound and a greater range.
Archives of Acoustics, 2000
In this study we investigate the appearance of combination tones in violins. Most authors in recent times have emphasised that combination tones occur inside the ear exclusively (intra-aural). This assumption will be subjected to scrutiny based on evidence found in an empirical study in which combination tones were measured outside the ear (extra-aural).
Fifths and major thirds beat rate characteristics of famous historical temperaments are analysed. It appears that beat rate characteristics might be the actual determining factors for Baroque temperaments, mainly because beat rates are of main importance to interpreting musicians regarding harmony and possible musical affects, and to auditory tuners because of quality and ease of tuning. It is, on the other hand, not always clear whether published ratios, cents or comma's are deduced from theoretic calculations or from concrete results on monochord measurements or settings. The revealed reality and importance of beat rate characteristics of temperaments raises additional arguments for acceptability of the Jobin proposal concerning a probable Bach temperament, or for almost identical beat rate alternatives. A novel hypothesis is proposed concerning the spirals drawn on top of the title page of "Das wohltemperirte Clavier" of Johan Sebastian Bach. 1 Preamble The commonly published and dominating factors with discussions on musical temperaments are probably the investigations on purity deviations of musical intervals, measured in ratios, cents or commas. And still, musical interval beats and their beating rates are probably more affecting musical factors to interpreting musicians and auditory tuners of keyboard musical instruments. More attention might therefore have to be paid to those characteristics : beats are undesired and directly observable. Approximate auditory beat rate evaluations do not require any tool nor calculation. Impurity measurements in ratios, cents or commas on the other hand, are often nothing more but rather abstract concepts to many musicians, not of direct use or interest when playing music and also not for auditory tuning. This paper is an attempt to confirm and elucidate the importance and practical applicability of beat rate evaluations in the determination of musical temperaments, especially some Baroque ones. 2 The auditory music keyboard tuning The elementary basic concepts of musical temperaments, seen from the point of view of the interpreting musician and the auditory music keyboard tuner are discussed in this paragraph. There is of course much more that can be written on this subject, see for example : "Le Clavier Bien Obtempéré", A. Calvet, 2020.
The Auditory Tuning of a Keyboard
2021
An optimal auditory tunable well (circular) temperament is determined. A temperament that is applicable in practice is derived from this optimum. No other historical temperament fits as well, with this optimum. A brief comparison of temperaments is worked out. [1] The Auditory Tuning The initial octave intonation for the auditory tuning of a keyboard, relies mainly on the tuning of beating rates of fifths and major thirds, within a chromatic scale ranging from F3 to F4 (Calvet, 2020). Interval beatings are the product of interfering harmonics (sinusoidal sound waves) of the sounds of musical notes. Those harmonics are often called “partials”, especially if their frequencies deviate from integer multiples of the first partial frequency. Some partials of notes of an interval might have almost equal frequencies. For example : the third partial of a note, and the second partial of the fifth on that note will have equal or almost equal frequencies. Two simultaneous sinusoidal sound waves...
A concise account of historical harpsichord ranges, 2017
A concise account of historical harpsichord ranges, 2017
The historical evolution of the extension of the harpsichord's 12-note-per-octave keyboard, through the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque eras, in the main local traditions. (For a discussion of ""enharmonic keyboards"" or ""split sharps"", see the author's book ""Unequal Temperaments: Theory, History and Practice"", 3nd ed. 2013, Section 5.4. http://temper.braybaroque.ie/. For a full discussion of multiple-division keyboards see the same book, Chapter 19.) This paper was published in NEMA Newsletter, i/1. This is an online publication by the National Early Music Association UK. The whole issue is freely available to the general public from the URL: http://www.earlymusic.info/NEMA\_Newsletter\_i1\_2017.pdf
How can we approach the topic of the tone-to-tone timbre variability of historical instruments?
Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics
Recent publications have shown that the tone-to-tone variability of timbre is a characteristic feature of historical flutes and their replica. This can easily be demonstrated by means of recordings with artificially normalized pitch whereby objective analysis verifies the appearance of various spectral types in single instruments. Because historical flutes of the Renaissance and Baroque eras exhibit a simpler design than the modern flute, specific fingering patterns are needed to achieve the full chromatic scale. This technique furthermore enhances the characteristic variation of timbres from tone to tone. Listening to music played according to historically informed performance (HIP) shows that instrument-driven variations of timbre also affect the expression of other classes of historical instruments, such as the cornett and oboe. The natural high variability of timbres from tone to tone appears to also be an essential feature of historical flute music. This applies to recorders, but also to transverse flutes. In this contribution, firstly new findings regarding the timbre variability of alto recorders in Renaissance and Baroque design are presented. In a second step, an examination of the literature addresses the question of how the variability of timbre may be referred to by contemporary musicians, composers, and instrument makers.
Taskin Harpsichord Scalings and Stringings Revisited, 2011
"Taskin Harpsichord Scalings and Stringings Revisited, 2011", March 2011, in a webpage by the author (see links)., 2011
French double-manual harpsichords are in wide use today, especially those based upon the widely admired extant originals by Pascal Taskin. In this paper the scaling and original stringing of Taskin’s instruments—and a few other French Baroque instruments—is scrutinised in different ways. A first conclusion is that there appears to be no justification for a grouping of Taskin’s instruments in “low pitch” and “high pitch”. A second conclusion is that there is no direct correlation between pitch and Taskin’s changes in case sizes and scalings: he partially compensated for these changes by suitably modifying the stringing lists. The third conclusion is that the presumed inconsistency of Taskin’s stringing lists appears also to be a myth: with reasonable pitch assumptions, his tension curves show great similarity, being also similar to those calculated for other 18th century French instruments. The fourth conclusion, highly relevant for the harpsichord maker, is provided in the form of a unified, reliable and accurate method for the calculation of stringing lists for modern instruments based on 18th century French originals. Hints to select the Taskin original to be copied are also provided. This file has been converted from the original webpage (see Links). The present PDF format should be more legible in some computers and especially so in portable devices.