Kawai ES3 User Manual
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MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT
This temperament, which uses a mean between a major and minor
whole tone to eliminate dissonance for thirds, was devised to elimi-
nate the lack of consonance’s 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
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.
EQUAL TEMPERAMENT (FLAT)
This is “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
This is the most popular piano temperament. 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 natu-
rally to the ears. This “Stretched” equal temperament is a practical
variation of the “unstretched” equal temperament which was in-
vented on a mathematical basis.
Limitless modulation of the key became available only after the invention of Equal temperament.
When we use a temperament other than Equal temperament, we must carefully choose the key
signature to play in. For example, if the song you are going to play is written in D major, choose
“D” as the temperament key by pressing any “D” key on the keyboard. The LED display shows the
currently selected key signature. Press either Touch or Transpose button to exit the Function Mode
before you start playing.
NOTE:
Changing the key of the temperament will only change the “balance” of the tuning, the pitch of the
keyboard remains unchanged. Use the Tuning or Transpose functions to change the pitch of the
whole keyboard.