Choirs need electronic temperament keyboard

Choirs which perform early music need, for rehearsal purposes, an electronic keyboard capable of playing in various temperaments. All these temperaments should be adjustable by a simple slider bar, so that the choir's listening experience will fall at a point which lies anywhere (at the director's discretion) from hearing each temperament fully, to hearing merely a barely-detectable taste of the "flavor" of that temperament. This slider bar must range from 100% (for full engagement of the selected temperament) to 0% (for Equal Temperament).

This aspect of the keyboard would thus follow the advice of the best experts on temperament, who generally believe that, in history, always and actually, practice has been to use no temperament only in its pure form: but instead, that the timeline of historical practice constitutes a gradual drift from one temperament to another. Further, they believe it is historically accurate for us to duplicate today these same practices from the past, by means of any degree of alteration from Equal Temperament which we desire, using our own good taste.

Since the last century represents the triumph of Equal Temperament, perhaps our use of other temperaments should remain fairly close to it. The slider would enable this.

In order to perform early music, choirs need these temperaments:

• Bradley Lehman/J.S. Bach
• Equal Temperament
• Meantone
• Pythagorean
• Valotti
• Victorian

Some facility to load in new temperaments would be desirable as well.

Copyright (c) 2015 Mark D. Blackwell.

Bach-Lehman (and Young #1) using electronic tuner, howto

Here's how to use an electronic tuner to tune a harpsichord in Bradley Lehman's Bach temperament, as well as Thomas Young's. They sound so much better than equal temperament (even better than Vallotti)--everyone should try them!

I found Lehman-Bach instructions (taking Vallotti as a starting point) in the section, `Easy way to tune it accurately and mostly electronically' (search for it) of his homepage.

Yet, there is another way. His section, `Electronic device instructions for the Bach' at the bottom
of `Practical temperament instructions by ear' also recommends we, `See the interesting method by David Hitchin', who says his method is useful if one has the `Korg-OT12 or a similar tuner which provides for ET and the Pythagorean, Werkmeister III and Vallotti temperaments.'

Dr. Lehman says the Thomas Young temperament he recommends (Young #1) `is not the more familiar "Young #2"; it is his first and better one...entirely symmetrical, and very simple...Young's #2 [the worse one] is technically [just] a transposition of the entire VALLOTTI temperament upward by a 5th.'

I found these instructions in the `YOUNG #1 1799/1800' section of his `Practical temperament instructions by ear':

1. Tune all of VALLOTTI first.
2. Nick F downward slightly so it's equally tempered between C and Bb.
3. Nick B upward slightly so it's equally tempered between E and F#.

Copyright (c) 2011 Mark D. Blackwell.

Brandenburg 5 in Bach-Lehman tuning

The following is a re-post.

Please click to listen before reading further. Today, w/s Brandenburg MIDI turned up a top-page (Google) result, the fifth Brandenburg concerto, in D major, ('[o]ne of the lushest and most thrilling pieces ever written'--quotations are from Wikipedia), by (Johann Sebastian) Bach, 'now regarded as the supreme composer of the Baroque [period, and] one of the greatest of all time', produced by Alan Kennington, moderately, clearly and with great unity on a (single) MIDI instrument, the harpsichord.

According to the artist, '[T]he performer needs to be able to bring out the music comprehensibly. When the music is at the right speed, it resonates in the listener. It generates a kind of excitement and pleasure... I believe that Baroque composers wanted their audience to feel pleasure... Bach was more interested in giving gentle pleasure[,] rather than a sudden rush of breathless excitement.'

For this very purpose I adjusted its tuning to Bach- Lehman 1722 temperament using Scala, whose 'motto is INVENIT ET PERFICIT which means, "it finds and perfects"'. The result? My friend M agrees that this is a:

much more beautiful, second movement (Affettuoso), in B minor.

For this, it is essential to use some good wave-table MIDI synthesizer software like Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth which is based on Roland wavetables.

The Creative SoundBlaster SoundFont Synth and the QuickTime Music Synthesizer (at least on PC's) somehow blot out temperaments' emotional content, and they make this listening comparison meaningless.

For comparison, the original:

equal-tempered version

I predict you shall be uncomfortable with it, now. As my friend M said, it seems 'like a terribly out of tune MIDI file'. Now we know it wasn't the MIDI system's fault.

Also available are the

first and third

movements (both Allegro) fully adjusted to Bach- Lehman 1722 tuning.

(I have emailed Alan U. Kennington, Ph.D., and he granted permission for this use. His website states, 'All original material on the topology.org web site is Copyright (C) 1999-2009, Alan U. Kennington. Permission is hereby granted for non-commercial reproduction of small portions of this material under the Artistic Licence, provided that this copyright notice is attached.')

Copyright (c) 2010 Mark D. Blackwell.

Bach Well-Tempered Clavier in Bach-Lehman temperament

You might enjoy both books of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier on harpsichord in Bach/Lehman 1722 temperament (from Bradley Lehman, A.Mus.D.), which feels to me like what Bach really used. You might like this temperament, too!

If there is an immediate emotional difference between the following two versions of Prelude in C major from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier by Bach then, good!

Bach in equal temperament

Bach in Bach-Lehman temperament

Otherwise, your MIDI setup is not right somehow. You shouldn't bother to download books I and II in their entirety.

Available zip formats:

the major keys (the order is F C G Bb D Eb Ab F# A C# B E)

the minor keys (the order is D A E G C B F Eb G# F# Bb C#)

To start playing after downloading, just open the folders, select all the MIDI files, and drag them en masse to a RealPlayer window.

Toward answering the question, 'Which keys sound brightest?' here the pieces in the Well-Tempered Clavier are in order of increasing 'brightness': the size of the tonic chord's major third, essentially, after dividing major keys from minor.

For sizes of major thirds and fifths in Bach-Lehman temperament, see this chart.

For the detailed sorting decisions, see 'readme.txt' inside the major and minor key zip files.

I tuned the MIDI files to Bach-Lehman temperament using the program, Scala.

(For this, it is essential to use good wave-table MIDI synthesizer software like the Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth (which is based on Roland wavetables). The Creative (SoundBlaster) SoundFont Synth and the QuickTime Music Synthesizer (at least on PC's) somehow blot out temperaments' emotional content, and thus they make meaningless this listening comparison.)

Alan Kennington and Yo Tomita have given me permission to reuse their MIDI realizations.

Copyright (c) 2010 Mark D. Blackwell.

Bach Contrapunctus (Art of Fugue)

I tuned to Bach-Lehman 1722 temperament a MIDI from the Mutopia Project using harpsichord of most of Bach's The Art of Fugue.

To hear, expand this zip file. Drag the files en masse to RealPlayer's window (for example), sort its playlist of movements (perhaps putting inversus before rectus), and enjoy!

Copyright (c) 2010 Mark D. Blackwell.

Goldberg Variations in Bach-Lehman tuning

I am listening excitedly to Bach's Goldberg Variations in G major (in a file I recently re-tuned) because they sound so good! They are now in the temperament used by Bach himself I believe, Bach-Lehman 1722.

I invite you to listen to:

Variation 25 - Andante espressivo

However, if you try the:

equal temperament version

I believe you shall hear significantly less beauty, even unpleasantness!

For this, it is essential to use some good wave-table MIDI synthesizer software like Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth which is based on Roland wavetables.

The Creative SoundBlaster SoundFont Synth and the QuickTime Music Synthesizer (at least on PC's) somehow blot out temperaments' emotional content, and they make this listening comparison meaningless.

Sometime, feast your ears and emotional system on the:

complete variations

on harpsichord, in Bach-Lehman 1722 temperament. (It may be better if you minimize the treble on your speakers or whatever. Credits:

Goldberg Variations - by J.S. Bach - BWV 988.
MIDI version by David J. Grossman, 1997.
Bach-Lehman 1722 temperament version by Mark D. Blackwell, 2010.

Interesting, from Mr. Grossman's website on the Art of MIDI: 'Listening to a clean sequence of a Bach work, it is possible for the mind to add [its] own interpretation[;] one is able to listen to the work in such a way that [one's] own realization of the work comes through.'

Following immediately at 1:09:21 are Bach's Fourteen Canons on the First Eight Notes of the Goldberg Ground in G major - BWV 1087, which sound better, interestingly, in

equal temperament.

More Bach from David J. Grossman.

(I have emailed David J. Grossman;, he granted permission for this use. His website states, 'All original material is copyrighted ©1999 (unpronounceable) Productions', and also states, 'All of these sequences were created with Cakewalk Pro Audio and are copyrighted ©1997. However, they are freely distributable and modif[i]able for any non-commercial purpose[,] as long as proper credit is given and the textual information in the files remains intact', and also states, 'The original MIDI sequences at this site [are] copyrighted by myself but may be modified and redistributed[,] if: I am asked permission first and have given it, I am given partial credit for my original work, and they are not sold. Redistribution of my sequences in their unmodified form is allowed without explicit permission as long as no money is charged for them.')

Copyright (c) 2010 Mark D. Blackwell.

Brandenburg 5 in Bach-Lehman tuning

I have re-posted this, correcting the URL spelling to 'Brandenburg'!

Bach tuning vs. equal temperament

I am so enjoying this beautiful tuning! A commenter said, 'The difference this temperament makes[,] compared with equal temperament[,] is like unstopping your ears.'

Important especially for the fearful, as its video information says, 'the Bach/Lehman 1722... temperament sounds enough like equal [temperament] to fool just about anybody[.]'

Further, 'and yet...it brings both more intensity and more relaxation to the music...

'Equal temperament, by contrast, goes on and on with a relatively bland inoffensiveness...being less than inspiring, and encouraging "run-on"[,] uninflected performances... Why not tune instead with a subtle inequality, and let the intonation itself do part of the interpretive work?':



Copyright (c) 2010 Mark D. Blackwell.