I have always had a pretty laissez faire attitude to instrument tuning. A lot of what I like to create musically falls amongst the in-between notes and, depending on the application, I can at times struggle to see what benefit there is to constraining an instrument to equal temperament.

Add to that the fact that equal temperament is a fudge that many instruments have to be shoehorned into and I’m always interested to explore and understand what other options exist, and why. The trouble is the technical understanding required is often a bit beyond me. My lack of formal training is a blessing and a curse.

I find the history and mathematics of all this fascinating though, so it was great to watch this Gresham College lecture by Professor Sarah Hart recently, even if the evolution and tuning compromises did leave me chuckling to myself at times.

I must revisit this subject in a more formal (maybe practical) way in due course.