All this reminds me of the booklet written, I think, in the '60's by a Mr. Link entitled "Marpurg's I", of course referring to one of Marpurg's temperaments (he named them by letter). It was cited in there that no one really tunes a perfectly equal temperament, and further, the variations therein were not always consistent. In fact he contended that the slight variations contained in the "I" really made a difference worth persuing, e.g., equally beating M3 and m3 that make up some of the triads in that temperament to name one. Anyway, none of this is new; it has been around a while, catching fire with some here and there from time to time. HT's will never gain much in popularity; it will always have a small following. It's pedantic and just doesn't do a whole heck of a lot improving on such a hopeless situation as equal temperament. I just don't hear any great value in tuning certain keys more out of tune than other keys. They're just more or less out of tune. I fail to hear "colors" or "moods" in keys that are more out of tune than others. Oh well... hopelessly bourgeois. Vince Mrykalo RPT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >What I have been trying to do in this discussion is to disspell some commonly >held beliefs that are really myths... >When you tuned >aurally, your temperaments were close to being equal but probably contained >some error and inconsistency... >As time went on,... your temperaments probably did gravitate toward a >state of true equality. > >My argument is, and will remain, that this alone was not necessarily an >improvement. I will concede that most technicians of today believe that if >they can create a perfectly equalized scale, then they will have produced an >ideal tuning. This is an idea which I believe to be ill-conceived and >misguided. > >It is difficult to challenge and to try to change people's opinions about >long-held views that are admittedly the concensus of opinion. I do believe >that it will eventually be done though. There was a time when the concensus >of opinion was that the earth was flat... >By continuing to study the art of tuning and temperament, by having Historical >Temperament classes and performances at PTG seminars and conventions, by >continuing the discussion and sharing of information here, on this List, by >eventually getting concert artists, univerities, regular customers and the >recording industry interested in a way to offer something new and different, >this cycle of ignorance and repression can be broken. I believe our music >industry and particularly the piano industry will depend on it. If something >individal and unique cannot be created with the piano, then it will give way >to electronic music, all based on the dictations of Helmholz. > >Bill Bremmer RPT >Madison, Wisconsin >
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