modern ears, historical temperaments

Dennis Johnson johnsond@stolaf.edu
Wed, 20 Dec 1995 11:47:36 -0600


At  9:27 AM 12/20/95 -0700, A440A@aol.com wrote:
>Greetings
>
>        I have been watching this list for a while, and  would like to know
>if there are any practising tuners out there that
>are using non equal temperaments for modern work.............
>      ...............
......................
>      I would  like to hear from anybody else that is currently working  on a
>temperament crusade,  I really think there is more interest in the topic
> than the current dialogue indicates.
>regards,
>Ed Foote
>Precision Piano Works
>Nashville, Tn.



------------------


(With hand waving in the air)........ I am!


Ironically it seems that wide spread interest in and acceptance or support
of unequal temperament will not happen among tuners, dealers or
manufacturers until enough musicians get interested to the degree that they
request or insist it.
I say that this is ironic because it was the professional tuners and
manufacturing industry (not musicians) who motivated the adoption of equal
temperament on pianos in the first place. Pianists do have rational grounds
for not dwelling on matters out of their direct control (they have enough
to worry about), so to me this means that when these musicians do finally
get more involved and show strong preferential interest in temperament we
should take that seriously.

I will also say to those who choose to wait for these requests from
pianists, that this is expecting a lot initiative from your clients. If you
understand that it is legitimate, then you should feel obligated to share
that enlightenment. If you honestly believe that it is not legitimate,
please don't bother. In that case, go to the library.









Dennis Johnson
St. Olaf College
johnsond@stolaf.edu
djohn@skypoint.com





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