Jeff writes:
<< In the 20th and now 21st century, professional piano technicians
absolutely
must take the practical route unless you plan to be on hand for every
concert, every rehearsal, every composition sitting, etc. Anyone who
"prefers something besides ET" must be prepared to play a limited
repertoire. Today's pianist is expected to be able to perform in every key,
as if each were the same. <<
I wonder if your are unfamiliar with the characteristics of WT. The
statement would be true for meantone, a restrictive tuning, but is totally invalid
for many of the WT's that I, and others use.
>>My number one and most important rejection of the
idea of the implementation of historical temperaments is that it is
completely beyond the scope of reality of expectation to impose that piano
tuners should be expected to be experts in the realm of temperament history
as it relates to musical composition. It simply isn't our call. <<
That is the beauty of our trade, we get to make our own call. I choose
not to limit myself to one way of tuning, since I tune for such a variety of
customers. And if tuners are not to be experts in the history of their
craft/trade/obsession, then who will?
>>And CAUTs in particular, will never be paid well enough to be held
responsible for this
kind of knowledge. Imposing it on ourselves would be like Daniel throwing
himself into the lion's den.<<
I can't speak for others, but my introduction of the temperaments in
the academic settings that I work has had a tremendous effect on the faculty's
regard for my abilities. There ain't nothing like providing epiphanies to
make people take notice of you.
>>If we could tune a piano or any other other fixed pitch keyboard instrument
so that all intervals could be just, that would end all of this. It simply
is not possible. Non-ET tunings exist only for this reason. <<
I disagree, non-ET tunings provide a tonal palette. Music of
completely just intervals gets boring, real fast.
>>ET, or the closest we can come to achieving it, is the best compromise. >>
Not for me, and many others. All temperaments are compromises, but
their worth depends on how they are used. I simply cannot find a way to make
ignorance an asset for the clientele I work for, either jazz artists, classical
artists, song-writers, arrangers, and home-based amateurs. A relatively small
investment in time and effort has produced huge returns, as well as a growing
degree of employment security.
Ed Foote RPT
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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