1/16 Tone Piano...

[Corno Dolce]

Just stumbled onto this:

http://www.sauter-pianos.de/english/...microtone.html

I am very intrigued by a 97-note piano that covers the span of an octave. However, it must be a bear to tune.

Maybe our dear colleague Some Guy might have a word to share about this - what say you dear sir?

[Mat]

Oh my... Well, I heard of Alois Haba and his quarter-tone piano (and few other instruments, i.e. trumpet, clarinet, harmonium). But this something new. Has anyone tried to play Beethoven on this instrument yet?

Thanks for sharing, CD

[Corno Dolce]

Hi Mat,

Beethoven on that piano? Hmmm, imagine McCoy Tyner and his ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords on this...Frankly, methinks that Beethoven or Jazz would sound like the tonal language of Ligeti or his student Sven-David Sandström.

Cheers,

CD

[methodistgirl]

That's a nice looking piano too! I like uprights better than a grand any
day because I grew up with that kind.
judy tooley

[some guy]

Hey Corno, microtonality is good fun, to be sure. I guess I've been more interested in less regular stuff recently, like Ross Bolleter's stuff for ruined pianos. There's a lot of microintervals with that, but nothing regular.

Otherwise, I'm only familiar with LaMonte Young's Well Tuned Piano piece, which is an attempt (and not the only one) to get back to pre-well-tempered days, when everyone was in tune all the time, as it were. (The post-Bach piano is always just slightly out of tune, all the time.)

So I guess I'm saying I have nothing to say about Sauter's pianos except, "Cool, Corno. Thanks for finding this."

[Corno Dolce]

Hey Some Guy,

That was a fair answer. I don't even know how I stumbled onto the article about a 97 note octave. Although, on the other hand I did do a search on 97-note electronic keyboards and started to peruse the results...yes, thats how I found it. Apparently Sauter will build one for you at a certain price. Hmmm, I wonder if the lowest note is middle C and the top note is the octave above middle C? Maybe I'll pay a visit to the factory in Germany next year.

Thanx for your your input Some Guy.

Cheers,

CD

[Contratrombone64]

I can't even imagine why you'd not use a digital piano ... surely then it'd never need to be tuned? And yes, would be a total bear to tune, I quite agree Sweet Corn.

[Soubasse]

Ye Gods and little fishes! What an extraordinary "variation" - I wonder what the cost is like? Furthermore, how many educational institutions would purchase one knowing that the repertoire for it would be severely limited in both availability and audience ... experimental use only perhaps?

That said, one of the first things I did when I procured a sampler keyboard many years ago was create my own microtonal tuning table. I did the same again recently with Korg Triton. It's then a fascinating exercise to play those dear old familiar chord shapes and hear something completely off the planet!

The idea of 1/16th does intrigue me - a chromatic run would I suspect, sound rather close to white noise

[Contratrombone64]

A chromatic scale would sound like someone slowly pulling their stockings up?

[Soubasse]

[Corno Dolce]

Hmmm, like the *piano stockings* I gave to my Lady on Valentines day:

http://bp1.blogger.com/_cloF95EY5K4/...Piano-Legs.jpg

[Soubasse]

HOLD ME BACK!! The possibilities are endless!!

But I'll start with "So what was the first piece you played on them?!"

[Corno Dolce]

Being the incurable Rachmaninovian romantic that I am, I began with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j6VO...eature=related

[Soubasse]

What happened when you hit the low bass notes? Did you get to finish it? (the Rach I mean)

[Corno Dolce]

I got to finish it alright
Then began the love song of all love songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbZYzoidkYU

and:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrKdP...eature=related