ht and et

[Billbrpt@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-01-30 16:35:28 EST, you write:

<< Anything else is forcing them to improvise, without warning, in front of
 an audience. If they have not already adjusted to the temperament in the 
 past, several weeks of practicing with it might hardly be sufficient for 
 them to change their musical interpretation and feel comfortable. Who are 
 we to inflict our notions on them?>>

     Translation:
    "Anthing other than ET matters a great deal be cause it will confuse the
musician."
 
 <<If it is perfectly easy for them to adjust to a "mild" whatever, it is
 probably because the "ht" was so close to "et" as to make no never mind.>>

      Translation:
     "But if it's really close to ET, it won't matter"
 


 <<With clean, warm unisons and musically-sized and uniform octaves, the 1
 cent differences in temperament are totally indistinguishable, IMHO, not
 just for musicians, but for _everybody_, when actually listening to real
 music. (No, Mr. Bremmer, I am not calling you a liar.) >>

       Translation:
      "Small differences can't be heard so they don't matter unless Bill
Bremmer is doing them.  Then, they matter,  even if they can't be heard
because he is unethical and has opinions that make me mad just to read them.
He should just go away and stop bothering us and wasting bandwidth.  Before he
came along, things were peaceful and normal.  Everybody tuned in ET and was
satisfied with that, now he's causing people to actually think and we don't
like it!  We want nice, short posts that say cute things and give friendly
little tips.  We don't want to have to consider that what we have believed our
entire lives might just not be true!"

      I beg to differ.  Very small differences in a temperament do matter.
When playing an instrument or singing, the vibrato that is musical and proper
varies the pitch greatly from flat to sharp.  In the piano, the temperament
creates a vibrato-like sound.  When that vibrato is carefully and precisely
arranged in line with the cycle of 5ths, it will be appropriate for virtually
all music. 
     When you tune in ET, you divide up that vibrato uniformly so that every
chord has the same vibrato all the time, no matter what key you are in or what
the mood of the music is.  It may not be in opposition to anything but it also
fits nothing well either.

      <<Who are  we to inflict our notions on them?>>
      When you attempt to tune in ET and make errors, even small ones, you
disorganize that vibrato and cause musical chaos.  If you think that small
errors in your temperament don't matter, then you imposing that which you
disregard and don't care about on them.  
     << If they have not already adjusted to the temperament in the  past,
several weeks of practicing with it might hardly be sufficient for  them to
change their musical interpretation and feel comfortable.>>
      In most cases, they just stop listening and "bang" harder.  They just
learn to "tune out" that which is musically incorrect.
     << the 1  cent differences in temperament are totally
indistinguishable.>>
     <<Who are  we to inflict our notions on them?>>

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin