<story><title>Why are pianos traditionally tuned “out of tune” at the extremes?</title><url>https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/14244/why-are-pianos-traditionally-tuned-out-of-tune-at-the-extremes</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bloak</author><text>It seems that no one objected to the (slightly off-topic) claim that &amp;quot;the vast majority of western music uses equal temperament&amp;quot;. As I understand it, equal temperament is just a way of tuning keyboard instruments so that they sound the same in every key; a string quartet or a choir doesn&amp;#x27;t use equal temperament. (And some people claim that J. S. Bach, who insisted on tuning his own keyboards, didn&amp;#x27;t use equal temperament, either.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>systoll</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s a way of tuning so that all semitone intervals are an equal [2^(1&amp;#x2F;12)] frequency ratio. The vast majority of western music, &lt;i&gt;today&lt;/i&gt;, uses equal temperament. This includes most recorded performances of JS Bach&amp;#x27;s pieces.&lt;p&gt;It wasn&amp;#x27;t particularly common in Bach&amp;#x27;s time, though, and the math to do it &amp;#x27;properly&amp;#x27; wasn&amp;#x27;t even known outside of China.&lt;p&gt;Today, though, it&amp;#x27;s everywhere. Modern Woodwinds are equal temperament due to the placement of the holes. To match that, the entire orchestra is in equal temperament, regardless of the requirements of the instrument.&lt;p&gt;Guitars are in equal temperament due to the placement of their frets -- to do otherwise would require frets that bend between strings.&lt;p&gt;In isolation, people will [attempt to] sing in equal temperament, because that&amp;#x27;s what &amp;#x27;all&amp;#x27; accompaniment is like.&lt;p&gt;Barbershop quartets, acapella groups, and to some extent string quartets have a tendency to shift &lt;i&gt;harmony notes&lt;/i&gt; toward simple fractions of the root note of the chord, on the fly, even as the overall melody runs in equal temperament. This isn&amp;#x27;t a different &amp;#x27;tuning&amp;#x27;, per se, but it is a thing.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why are pianos traditionally tuned “out of tune” at the extremes?</title><url>https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/14244/why-are-pianos-traditionally-tuned-out-of-tune-at-the-extremes</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bloak</author><text>It seems that no one objected to the (slightly off-topic) claim that &amp;quot;the vast majority of western music uses equal temperament&amp;quot;. As I understand it, equal temperament is just a way of tuning keyboard instruments so that they sound the same in every key; a string quartet or a choir doesn&amp;#x27;t use equal temperament. (And some people claim that J. S. Bach, who insisted on tuning his own keyboards, didn&amp;#x27;t use equal temperament, either.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jerf</author><text>&amp;quot;a string quartet or a choir doesn&amp;#x27;t use equal temperament.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;But they are still fairly deeply influenced by the fact all our ears are generally tuned to equal temperament, so I think it&amp;#x27;s still fair to say they use equal temperament + some local deviations, rather than some other tuning. Music that is &amp;quot;truly&amp;quot; not based on equal temperament sounds &amp;quot;wrong&amp;quot; to most people nowadays, or at least requires a significant adjustment period.</text></comment>