Open letter to Billbrpt/Was: _José__ (off_topic )

Conrad Hoffsommer hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu
Tue, 21 Apr 1998 09:02:37 -0500


Dear List:
 
WARNING!  PELIGRO!  ACHTUNG!  ATTENTION!

THIS IS AN OFF-TOPIC POST!  
HIT DELETE _NOW_ IF YOU DON'T READ SUCH THINGS!!

Dear Bill,

You may not get this, as _I_ am conceited enough to think I might be on your
list of blocked addresses, but as a newly promoted and thus heady-with-power
member of the "Baloney Bunch" I feel compelled to comment.

If I may quote and respond to some other responses to the -->off-topic<--
thread.
----------
Guy Nichols wrote:

>Mr. Bremmer,
>	Our little chapter is meeting Tuesday evening, and I spent a bit of the
>day sorting through HT posts. <snip>

>	The sad thing is, that for the meeting tomorrow night, I don't think I can
include any of your knowledgeable posts. It would take me too long to edit
out the sarcasm, sourness, verbal inharmonicity, and outright nastiness. A
shame, really. For those in our chapter that aren't on the list, <snip>

To which I sadly can only comment:

Winnowing the wheat from the chaff of many of your posts in the past has
indeed been a long and harrowing task.
----------
Carl Root added:

>I've enjoyed the last couple posts you've written.  You're right about
this !!  It has nothing to do with piano technology.  Please folks, be
professional.  :-)

I must say I agree, it isn't piano technology. It started out >>>clearly
marked as off-topic<<<!!!

It was basically a light hearted way to improve communication among the
list, more and more of whom do not have English as their first language.  As
someone who claims a sideline of translation to a language which uses
accents, Bill,  I would think you would encourage (or at least tolerate)
greater knowledge amongst the rest of us.  As you read the word "garc,on",
wouldn't it be nicer if I had found the code for a c-cedilla instead of
using a comma?

As I recall, there is an educational theory which says basically that you
learn more, and more easily, when you are having fun.   Wouldn't it be
horrible if one actually learned better communication skills?
-------
As off-topic as some threads may get, DAMN, if some people don't pick up
something and go off into what _is_ a technical subject. Witness the query
about the SAT book.

Gordon Rumson asked:
>What temperaments will you use?  I stuck with the 18th century well
>tempered one.  I translated some of the figures from Jorgensen's book.
>Please excuse my ignorance, but what is the SAT book?

--------
Carl Root went on to say:
>(psst, bill...... let somebody else do it next time.  maybe this will
get discussed at providence.  don't get to the point where you enjoy
this kind of post. :-)  )

Here's when I finally get to the main reasons I had for responding to you.

Some on this list do realize that,unfortunately, somehow you _do_ seem to
enjoy those posts.

There are people on this list who will want to hear lectures and
demonstrations on historical temperaments when they are at the Providence
Institute in July.  Among them there may be some who could wish to see and
hear my old friend and mentor Owen Jorgensen, but may stay away because of
_your_ well documented attitudes and communication methods.

It would seem to this hinterland hick that you are doing a disservice to
your mission of educating the world about HT's  by _your_ inability to keep
personal feelings of condescension out of your posts.  

Sincerely,

Conrad
Unofficial and uncompensated spokesperson for the Baloney Bunch. (Ironic how
it's initials are the same as yours, huh?)

Conrad Hoffsommer		Office - (319) 387-1204
Luther College                         Music Dept Fax - (319) 387-1076
700 College Drive
Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045             hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu

If I had multiple personality disorder, my resume would make more sense.



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