At 10:49 AM 12/20/95 -0700, you wrote: >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 > > Another hand waving madly!!! Some of use were on the temperament bandwagon long before it became "pc". I believe, however, that the blame for "equal" temperament properly actually does lie with the performers of yesteryear who demanded louder, more stable, et cet. pianos and the manufacturers who obliged them. A non-rhetorical question concerns how many "professional" piano tuners there were prior to Broadwood's switch to equal temperament as a factory standard (1853?). (Or perhaps, for that matter, prior to the early 20th Cent.? A subject for someone's doctoral thesis, no doubt.) Certainly, other temperaments as significantly more musically pleasing. My own experience (in over 29 years of concert and recording work) is that one must be careful where and when to do what. I think Scott Thile addressed this issue well recently. Different situations require different approaches. Pianos are significantly more flexible than we usually give them credit for being, as are the ears of the performers. The main question, for me, then is one of appropriateness of application. With the monumental work of Owen Jorgenson, and certainly some earlier stuff from Murray Barbour and others in the Galpin Society, we have a wealth of information and methods from which to chose. So, like Quixote, we ride off in search of yet another windmill... Best to all, Horace Greeley
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