Wonderful video! I'm going to share it with one of my university classes. An alternative method for folks to consider when tuning meantone: Once you have tuned four fifths between a perfectly in-tune third, you can also set quarter-comma meantone by tuning nothing but thirds. In this excellent video, the tuner uses F-A as a starting reference, then does D-A, G-D, and C-G, checking F-C. Once that's done, one could simply tune pure D-F#, Bb-D, A-C#, C-E, G-B, and Eb-G. I prefer this method, because it removes guess work from the fifths. Of course, one must be able to hear pure thirds, which is sometimes hard for people used to equal temperament.
Thanks a lot for this excellent tutorial tuning presentation. Many years have passed with me neglecting my harpsichord's maintenance and tuning, and now - at old age with more time on my own , seeing your upload - encourages me to go back to my old love: this instrument and its music.
What a fantastic gem to find! I dabble in Baroque and harpsichord music as a composer and this is fantastic! Thank You so much for sharing and playing and giving us a great insight into mean temperament! Bravo, good sir, bravo!
Chapeau! Loved your explanations. Man, I wish I had a harpsichord. Been playing some of Bach's two-part inventions on the piano and always wondered what they would sound like on an instrument like yours.
I always have used a tuning device (Poletti or ClearTune) and promised myself that someday I would learn to use the proper "old school" tuning method. Your video gives me the push that I need.
Very nicely done, thanks. I tend to think of temperaments as being more thirdy or more fifthy, and don't try to distribute the comma evenly. But then again, I mostly do diatonic stuff, where you can get more pure intervals. Grüße aus windigem Wien, Scott
Thank you David, what a lovely video 🙏🏻 I am a baroque oboist from the UK, dabbling with some harpsichord 😉 and I would love to study at Schola one day!
Very interesting and impressing -- although I understand only little. I do not play harpsichord but I am fond of these wonderful instruments. And I have never seen a harpsichord-player tuning his instrument. I am going to learn hammered dulcimer which will also mean having to tune a great deal of strings regularly. The system of tuning is of course different there.
Thank you so much for your comment, I'm glad that the video could help you! I also used apps for tuning the harpsichord for some years and was a bit frightened to rely only on my ears, but just trying and learning by doing helped me to appreciate the process. And another plus: The tuning is never exactly the same as last time and this way it sounds always new and fresh. Thanks for your comment and have a great day!
Interessante! Eu sempre achei que no mesotonico usaria-se as terças pura para afinar! Mas vc foi sempre pelo circulo das quintas impuras! Muito interessante! Obrigado!
You are absolutely right, the foundation for the meantone temperament is the pure major third. When you tune a new string you can always check if it produces a new pure major third with a string you already tuned and this will guide you in choosing the right temperament for the fifths. I chose here to make the tuning process as straight-forward as possible, focussing only on tuning fifths. The advantage of this method is that it then can also be applied to other temperaments that don't feature pure major thirds. Thanks for pointing out this important detail! Have a great day!
This is indeed a very helpful addition! When tuning fifths up, you can check if your current key produces a pure third with a string you already tuned (e.g. when you are working on B check it against G). This is how you can be absolutely sure that you "guessed" the sound quality of your fifth correctly. In this lies the beauty of the meantone temperament: the same intervals (e.g. all major thirds) are tempered by the same amount (e.g. all pure). In the video I wanted to be as straight-forward as possible, so I focussed on one thing only: tuning fifths. Bonus: This approach is then transferrable to other temperaments! Thanks a lot for your question and ideas!
@@david.fasold Thanks for the great video! After tuning the pure third F-A and the fifths F-C-G-D-A with the same quality, would it be possible to only tune the remaining thirds pure? In this way we would get E from C, Bb and F# from D, G# from E, Eb and B from G, C# from A. The resulting fifths (A-E, C#-G#, Eb-Bb, Bb-F, E-B, F#, C#) should have the right quality. I find tuning pure thirds easier than tuning impure fifths.
I really like the sound of the harpsichord, but I think I'm better off with a MIDI controller. I'm too impatient I imagine this is kind of meditative process, isn't it?
True, this approach takes a bit more time than the iPhone app, but I noticed that it also helps in familiarizing yourself with the unique sound quality of your instrument. I wish you joyful hours with your new spinet!
Even easier, buy an electronic tuner like the Korg OT-120 that has built-in equal temperament, Pythagorean, Werckmeister III, Vallotti, Mean Tone Eb, Kirnberger III, Young,'s Mean Tone D#, and Kellner temperaments. I generally use Young's, as it is quite rich and robust-sounding.
Hey Claudia, thanks for the suggestion, I will try to feature it in a future video. In the meantime you can find a guide about Vallotti temperament here: www.hpschd.nu/pdf/tech/vallotti.pdf and have look at my colleague's video about Vallotti: th-cam.com/video/oj66YOguWYE/w-d-xo.html Hope that helps!
This is actually on my list for the next videos. I am extremely grateful to be blessed with this instrument and hope to share some music on it in the near future.
Wie oft sollte man ein Cembalo stimmen? Kann man es irgendwie beeinflussen, dass die Stimmung länger hält? Bei zwei Manualen ist es doch ein erheblicher Zeitaufwand oder?
Wie oft sollte man ein Cembalo stimmen? Es kommt auf das Cembalo an. Wenn man z.B. ein Neupert Cembalo aus den 70er Jahren hat braucht man es nicht so oft stimmen. Ein historischer Nachbau ist schon stimmungsbedürftiger. Je robuster / schwerer ein Cembalo gebaut ist desto weniger braucht man es stimmen. Beeinflussung: Hauptsächlich ist die Schwankung der Luftfeuchtigkeit dafür ausschlaggebend. Je stabiler die Luftfeuchtigkeit gehalten wird umso weniger braucht man es stimmen. 2 Manuale - mehr stimmen? Es kommt darauf an wieviele Register man im Cembalo verbaut hat. Meistens ist es aber so dass man ein 4 Fuß Register bei einem historischen Nachbau alle zwei bis drei Tage stimmen muss - die 8 Fuss Register halten bei stabiler Luftfeuchtigkeit auch schon mal 2-3 Wochen.
You tune it to match the instruments you are accompanying. Baroque and early period instruments were not standardized so each time you play you have to match a mean tone and tune as David does here, mostly for strings as they are a just intonation instrument.
Interesting, but I would just use the Korg and be done with it. I don't know of any professional tuners who tune by ear at concert venues. Time is money. I can tune the 8' on my Flemish single in 12 minutes or less, and another 8 minutes for the 4'.
You are right, using a tuning aid is faster in most cases and can be very useful, especially in concert situations. Tuning by ear on the other hand gives you the freedom to have a temperament that fits perfectly the pieces you are going to play, this is why I prefer it at home.
Wonderful video! I'm going to share it with one of my university classes.
An alternative method for folks to consider when tuning meantone: Once you have tuned four fifths between a perfectly in-tune third, you can also set quarter-comma meantone by tuning nothing but thirds. In this excellent video, the tuner uses F-A as a starting reference, then does D-A, G-D, and C-G, checking F-C. Once that's done, one could simply tune pure D-F#, Bb-D, A-C#, C-E, G-B, and Eb-G. I prefer this method, because it removes guess work from the fifths. Of course, one must be able to hear pure thirds, which is sometimes hard for people used to equal temperament.
Thanks a lot for this excellent tutorial tuning presentation. Many years have passed with me neglecting my harpsichord's maintenance and tuning, and now - at old age with more time on my own , seeing your upload - encourages me to go back to my old love: this instrument and its music.
"The boy who cried 'wolf'" was really a cautionary tale about an over-eager tuner :)
What a fantastic gem to find! I dabble in Baroque and harpsichord music as a composer and this is fantastic! Thank You so much for sharing and playing and giving us a great insight into mean temperament! Bravo, good sir, bravo!
Chapeau! Loved your explanations. Man, I wish I had a harpsichord. Been playing some of Bach's two-part inventions on the piano and always wondered what they would sound like on an instrument like yours.
I always have used a tuning device (Poletti or ClearTune) and promised myself that someday I would learn to use the proper "old school" tuning method. Your video gives me the push that I need.
that was excellent David. Thanks you for teaching us about the harpsichord!
Very nicely done, thanks. I tend to think of temperaments as being more thirdy or more fifthy, and don't try to distribute the comma evenly. But then again, I mostly do diatonic stuff, where you can get more pure intervals.
Grüße aus windigem Wien, Scott
Fascinating.
Thank you David, what a lovely video 🙏🏻 I am a baroque oboist from the UK, dabbling with some harpsichord 😉 and I would love to study at Schola one day!
Well done David, many thanks.
Very methodical. And I imagine this must have been a very regular experience for harpsichordists in earlier centuries!
This is true, and it actually never changed. It is the same for harpsichordists today as it was centuries ago.
@@david.fasold a nice connection with the past
Every student learned this from his master. Later, being a master himself, he gave it to his students. so it was no need to write it down.
Very interesting and impressing -- although I understand only little. I do not play harpsichord but I am fond of these wonderful instruments. And I have never seen a harpsichord-player tuning his instrument. I am going to learn hammered dulcimer which will also mean having to tune a great deal of strings regularly. The system of tuning is of course different there.
Really, really helpful. I’m so lazy that I use the well-tempered tuning application on my IPhone 🤣🤣. It has so many different temperaments.
Thank you so much for your comment, I'm glad that the video could help you!
I also used apps for tuning the harpsichord for some years and was a bit frightened to rely only on my ears, but just trying and learning by doing helped me to appreciate the process.
And another plus: The tuning is never exactly the same as last time and this way it sounds always new and fresh.
Thanks for your comment and have a great day!
This is great, very helpful! Beautiful istrument.
Thank you very much for your kind comment! I am glad to hear that you enjoy the instrument as much as I do! :)
Love this video!!!
Do notice the pins in the block are laid out to mimic the keyboard.
Well done! Great video and sound! Live your editing.
Thank you so much! This is beautiful!
Interessante! Eu sempre achei que no mesotonico usaria-se as terças pura para afinar! Mas vc foi sempre pelo circulo das quintas impuras! Muito interessante! Obrigado!
You are absolutely right, the foundation for the meantone temperament is the pure major third. When you tune a new string you can always check if it produces a new pure major third with a string you already tuned and this will guide you in choosing the right temperament for the fifths.
I chose here to make the tuning process as straight-forward as possible, focussing only on tuning fifths. The advantage of this method is that it then can also be applied to other temperaments that don't feature pure major thirds.
Thanks for pointing out this important detail! Have a great day!
@@david.fasold nice! Thanks for the information! All the best.
Very clear and interesting! Thank you!!
Thank you so much, Luigi! I appreciate you taking the time to write a comment!
Do you subsequently check that your thirds are pure (which they should be if the fifths were tuned correctly)?
This is indeed a very helpful addition! When tuning fifths up, you can check if your current key produces a pure third with a string you already tuned (e.g. when you are working on B check it against G). This is how you can be absolutely sure that you "guessed" the sound quality of your fifth correctly.
In this lies the beauty of the meantone temperament: the same intervals (e.g. all major thirds) are tempered by the same amount (e.g. all pure).
In the video I wanted to be as straight-forward as possible, so I focussed on one thing only: tuning fifths. Bonus: This approach is then transferrable to other temperaments!
Thanks a lot for your question and ideas!
@@david.fasold Thanks for the great video! After tuning the pure third F-A and the fifths F-C-G-D-A with the same quality, would it be possible to only tune the remaining thirds pure? In this way we would get E from C, Bb and F# from D, G# from E, Eb and B from G, C# from A. The resulting fifths (A-E, C#-G#, Eb-Bb, Bb-F, E-B, F#, C#) should have the right quality. I find tuning pure thirds easier than tuning impure fifths.
I really like the sound of the harpsichord, but I think I'm better off with a MIDI controller. I'm too impatient
I imagine this is kind of meditative process, isn't it?
Thanks for showing this. I just bought a spinet some weeks ago, and only manage to tune it with an iPhone app. Works, but not so satisfying.
True, this approach takes a bit more time than the iPhone app, but I noticed that it also helps in familiarizing yourself with the unique sound quality of your instrument. I wish you joyful hours with your new spinet!
11:50 best part :-D
Yesss
thanks Alot . can you give me some information about the higher keyboard?
mean what is the difference between the 2 keyboard
How much does the change of tension on the strings throw off the tuning of the strings you tuned previously?
In practice, it is unnoticeable, and will always be much less than any other perturbation such as weather changes.
Even easier, buy an electronic tuner like the Korg OT-120 that has built-in equal temperament, Pythagorean, Werckmeister III, Vallotti, Mean Tone Eb, Kirnberger III, Young,'s Mean Tone D#, and Kellner temperaments. I generally use Young's, as it is quite rich and robust-sounding.
Hi, David
Could you explain how to tune the harpsichord with Vallotti temperament, please?
Thank you very much!!
Hey Claudia, thanks for the suggestion, I will try to feature it in a future video. In the meantime you can find a guide about Vallotti temperament here: www.hpschd.nu/pdf/tech/vallotti.pdf and have look at my colleague's video about Vallotti: th-cam.com/video/oj66YOguWYE/w-d-xo.html Hope that helps!
@@david.fasold Thank you very much, David
how great! i‘d love to hear your harpsichord once ;-)
This is actually on my list for the next videos. I am extremely grateful to be blessed with this instrument and hope to share some music on it in the near future.
Wie oft sollte man ein Cembalo stimmen? Kann man es irgendwie beeinflussen, dass die Stimmung länger hält? Bei zwei Manualen ist es doch ein erheblicher Zeitaufwand oder?
Wie oft sollte man ein Cembalo stimmen? Es kommt auf das Cembalo an. Wenn man z.B. ein Neupert Cembalo aus den 70er Jahren hat braucht man es nicht so oft stimmen. Ein historischer Nachbau ist schon stimmungsbedürftiger. Je robuster / schwerer ein Cembalo gebaut ist desto weniger braucht man es stimmen.
Beeinflussung: Hauptsächlich ist die Schwankung der Luftfeuchtigkeit dafür ausschlaggebend. Je stabiler die Luftfeuchtigkeit gehalten wird umso weniger braucht man es stimmen.
2 Manuale - mehr stimmen? Es kommt darauf an wieviele Register man im Cembalo verbaut hat. Meistens ist es aber so dass man ein 4 Fuß Register bei einem historischen Nachbau alle zwei bis drei Tage stimmen muss - die 8 Fuss Register halten bei stabiler Luftfeuchtigkeit auch schon mal 2-3 Wochen.
One question, why are you tuning the harpsichord in 372 hz instead of 392, 400, 404, or 415?
You tune it to match the instruments you are accompanying. Baroque and early period instruments were not standardized so each time you play you have to match a mean tone and tune as David does here, mostly for strings as they are a just intonation instrument.
Interesting, but I would just use the Korg and be done with it. I don't know of any professional tuners who tune by ear at concert venues. Time is money. I can tune the 8' on my Flemish single in 12 minutes or less, and another 8 minutes for the 4'.
You are right, using a tuning aid is faster in most cases and can be very useful, especially in concert situations. Tuning by ear on the other hand gives you the freedom to have a temperament that fits perfectly the pieces you are going to play, this is why I prefer it at home.
I have a clavichord and tend do tune it this way... every other week 😂
Dual keyboards! Let’s hear some Goldberg.
Excellence...****
F Frogg...B. C...
Canada...🐸
If you buy a harpsichord you better be willing to tune the thing EVERYDAY
I think it depends on the environment ?
so BAD! The 5th f-c was MUCH more pure then the others!
i prefer the sound of a piano
In the future please don’t use so much noise removal on your audio, it’s distracting.
Thanks for the hint, I have worked on it for the latest videos!
harpichord can't beat a piano