It seems Gildas is referring to Scots
highland pipes here:I certainly haven't heard people who think the
scales of Lowland Scots or the Irish or Northumbrian pipes sound
out of tune, nor indeed those of other countries.
To
clear up some common misunderstandings:
- it is an acoustical fact that when
properly in tune, the various steps between notes in the western
scale are different sizes in different contexts: to produce these
different notes accurately in tune involves endless complications
- Handel is said to have had a harpsichord made with 52 notes to
the octave rather than the normal 12 - and the practical solution
has always been to compromise, using a fewer number of keys and
'adjusting' or "tempering"
the tuning by using notes which are deliberately just a little out-of-tune:
there are many systems which, if they're used consistently are close
enough for most people's ears, but there have always been different
opinions about what compromises are acceptable, and where they should
be made
-
from Gildas' words we might think that the expression 'well-tempered'
was a general term used throughout the history of music for a specific
scale or tuning system: this isn't the case, the name is a translation
from German from a title used by J.S. Bach for a particular collection
of pieces
- many people today understand 'well-tempered' to mean the compromise
where all the steps and half-steps are the same size: but the appropriate
name for such a scale is 'equal-tempered': 'well-tempered' in baroque
times didn't refer to an 'equal-tempered ' scale, but one where
you could play in all keys without retuning - in Baroque tuning
systems the distances between the semitones are actually all different,
so each key sounds objectively different and has its own distinct
character - for example C#-major is much more out-of-tune that C-major,
but it's still just about usable: and this essential aspect of the
sound of Baroque music is lost if you use equal temperament
- Bach invented neither the equal-tempered scale nor the idea of
a collection of pieces in all the different keys: both were established
long before his time, and however much he may be seen as great and
influential today, I haven't seen anything to suggest that during
his own time his music influenced other musicians, or was even widely
known, outside of his own circle
- equal temperament wasn't commonly used until long after Bach's
time
- sure, equal temperament is used for most pre-tuned instruments
today, like accordions and pianos: but that doesn't mean it's universally
used, even if it's universally recognised. In an orchestra, for
instance, it's the model for the wood-wind instruments, but the
brass work according to a different system, while violins are tuned
using yet another. For anyone who plays mediaeval, renaissance or
baroque music, it's well-worth recognising the difference between
the basic tunings which were used in these three periods: the historical
tunings are much easier to tune, and the music really only makes
its proper effect when the tuning matches
I've written a piece which explains this properly and demonstrates
it, putting it on the Web is on my list of jobs, and it'll get higher
priority if you let me
know you're interested ...
