Thought Police - was HT's -Reply

[Greg Torres]

And a Double Amen to that, Steve. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Greg Torres

Steve Pearson wrote:

> It's hard to believe I'm doing this.  Surely, too much has already been said
> in the HT / ET wars. But alas, I can't resist.  I think to meself, "Self", I say, "
> Self, there are few techs, musicians or otherwise who love a good HT
> better than I do."   But there is something in the whole idea of dragging
> this out over months, with charred bodies strewing the pathway, that is
> too odd. Too narrow. Too mean.  There is implicit in the derisive
> statements about ET that it is somehow invalid; not a "real" tuning.  If HT is
> good, then ET is bad.  Or, the oft expressed feeling that ET is the last
> improvement in the ever upward evolution of tuning theory, so it is
> therefor the best.  Shoot, some are even going back to
> Pythagoras-on-steroids in a perfect fifths temperament, which has
> beating thirds that rival hummingbird wings.  I personally think Bach
> sounds better in a well tempered tuning, but I think less is lost by playing it
> on a piano in ET, than playing Brahms on the same piano in Werckmeister
> III.  Bartok Roumanian Dances sound great in meantone...really, you
> should try it, but Shostakovich certainly doesn't.  Subjective judgements
> aside, why do the egos seem to be so fragile, why the opinions so
> jealously guarded?  I think this is why;  We aren't talking tuning here,
> were talking honor, and the defense thereof.  We are talking emotional
> baggage, all tied up with ugly little bows with our names on them.  We are
> also talking about something subtle enough to  performing musicians, that
> they often miss its presence in the tuning.  Can they / we tell the
> difference?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.  Sometimes, we regard
> different as good, sometimes bad.  Usually it is just different.  Harpsichord
> works played on piano, Organ works, transcribed for the piano, or the
> orchestra are transformed  into very different musics.  Is it kosher or
> kitsch?    Forgive me for waxing philosophical, but it seems that
> whenever opinion - read emotion - enters in, reason flies.  An emotional
> bias creates an intellectual blindspot.  Heck, if someone wants to tune in
> pure minor thirds, and they can hide the comma, so as not to make your
> teeth ache, let 'em.
> "If it sounds good, it is good"  - Duke Ellington