Kawai CA840 Owner's Manual page 30

æ Temperament characteristic
& Equal temperament
This, by far the most popular piano temperament, divides the scale into twelve equal
semitones and has the advantage of producing the same chordal intervals in all
twelve keys.
& Mersenne temperament
This temperament, which eliminates consonances for thirds and fifths, is still popular
for choral music.
& Pythagorean temperament
This temperament, which uses mathematical ratios to eliminate consonances for
fifths, has problems with chords, but produces very beautiful melodic lines.
æ Meantone temperaments
This temperament, which uses a mean between a major and minor whole tone to
eliminate consonances for thirds, was devised to eliminate the lack of consonances
experienced with certain fifths for the Mersenne pure temperament. It produces
chords that are more beautiful than those with the equal temperament.
& Werckmeister III temperament, Kirnberger III temperament
For key signatures with accidentals, this temperament produces the beautiful chords
of the mean tone, but, as the accidentals increase, the tension increases, and the
temperament produces the beautiful melodies of the Pythagorean temperament. It
is used primarily for classical music written to take advantage of these characteristics.
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