Keyboard Settings
3Select a root by pressing one of the keys in the rangeAbout Temperaments
shown in the illustration below. Remember to keep
Equal Temperament
the SETTING button depressed.
This tuning system is the most widely used for keyboard
Y The note for the keyboard key you press is applied asmusical instruments in the world today. The octave is
the root. If you press key F5, for example, the rootdivided into 12 semitones that are equal in frequency ratio.
becomes F.With this system, you can perform in all the major and
minor keys without any adjustment. Though we take this
system for granted these days, it was a revolutionary
development in the history of music. Equal Temperament
tuning has been the most common system used in the
world since the middle of the 18th Century.
F4F5
Kirnberger III
Y No sound is produced when the keys are pressed.This is also one of the precursors to equal temperament.
Y When Baroque Pitch (page E-31) is ON, the root is aIt is an evolution of just intonation and the mean-tone
half-note higher than the key you press. This meanssystem, and all keys (from C-major to F-major) can be used
that to set a root of C, you should press B4.for keyboard play.
4Release the SETTING button to exit temperament Werckmeister
setting.Werckmeister is a famous theorist who also did research
on equal temperament. This particular system is said to
NOTEbe a precursor to equal temperament, and all keys (from
C-major to F-major) can be used for keyboard play.
Y If you select the temperament only without specifying
the root in the above procedure, the root automatically
Mean-Tone System
becomes C.
This system was the first actually used for tuning of
Y Temperament root settings are not affected when you
keyboard musical instruments. It was widely used starting
change the Transpose setting.
from the Renaissance up until the second half of the 18th
Y The keys you should press to set the root in step 3 of
Century. During the days of Handel and Bach, it was
the above procedure are fixed. They are not affected by
employed for cembalos, organs, and pianos.
transpose settings, etc.
Pythagorean System
This system was developed by the philosopher Pythagoras
sometime during the 5th Century B.C. Most of the fifths
in this system do not deviate from the Opure� (acoustically
correct) intervals. The Pythagorean system is perfect within
a small range of tones and in the simple keys, but it
becomes inadequate in others. Despite this, this system
was used for Middle Age religious music, which was
performed (sung) using only the simple keys.
Just Intonation
This system is one of the Opure� systems in which many
of the fifths and thirds are acoustically correct. Try setting
the root to C and playing C, E, G.
E-30430A-E-032A |
ACEC
