Brief Explanation Of Temperaments - Kawai CP 1 Owner's Manual

Brief Explanation of Temperaments

Equal Temperament (Flat)
This is an "unstretched" equal temperament that divides the scale into twelve equal semitones. This produces the same chordal intervals in all twelve keys, and
has the advantage of limitless modulation of the key. However the tonality of each key becomes less characteristic and no chord is in pure consonance.
Equal Temperament (Stretched)
This is the most popular piano temperament and is the initial setting. The hearing ability of a human is uneven and is not as accurate with high frequency
and low frequency as it is with the middle range. This temperament's tuning is stretched to compensate for this so the sound will be heard naturally to the
ears. This "Stretched" equal temperament is a practical variation of the "unstretched" equal temperament which was invented on a mathematical basis.
Pure Temperament
This temperament, which eliminates dissonances for thirds and fifths is still popular for choral music because of its perfect harmony. You need to be aware
what key you are playing in with this temperament. Any key modulation will result in dissonances. When you play music in a particular key, you need to match
the key of the temperament as well.
Pythagorean Temperament
This temperament, which uses mathematical ratios to eliminate dissonance for fifths, is very limited for use with chords, but it produces very characteristic
melodic lines.
Meantone Temperament
This temperament, which uses a mean between a major and minor whole tone to eliminate dissonance for thirds, was devised to eliminate the lack of consonance's
experienced with certain fifths for the Pure temperament. It produces chords that are more beautiful than those with the equal temperament.
Werckmeister III, Kirnberger III Temperament
These two temperaments are placed in between Meantone and Pythagorean. For music with few accidentals, this temperament produces the beautiful
chords of the mean tone, but as accidentals increase, the temperament produces the characteristic melodies of the Pythagorean temperament. It is used
primarily for classical music written in the Baroque era to revive the original characteristics.
Arabic
Some oriental scales, including the Arabic, are characterized for "quarter-tone" which is half of a half-tone (50 cents). This makes the music sound very
different from traditional western music. The CP Piano provides two of the most popular Arabic scales, although you can create more variations with the User
Temperament function. With Arabic 1, the notes B and E are a quartertone lower than the Occidental Scale, while the notes A and E are lower with Arabic 2.
To create a User Temperament:
Step 1
On the Temperament screen, touch the EDIT button.
The User Temperament screen will be displayed.
Step 2
Touch the screen to select the note to edit.
Step 3
Use the Dial or touch the - TUNE + buttons to change the value.
The value is represented in cents above or below Equal temperament and ranges from -50 to +50.
Step 4
Touch the SAVE button to save the User Temperament.
The User Temperament alters the tuning for each octave equally. In other words, you cannot alter the tuning of different
sections of the CP's keyboard range separately.
BACK : Takes you to the Temperament menu.
KEY : Selects the key/note to edit.
TUNE : Adjust the tuning value of the selected key/note.
SAVE : Saves the User Temperament.
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