HT's (Ad Nauseum)

[Les Smith]

On Tue, 17 Mar 1998, Tom Cole wrote:

> At the moment, my wife is playing Schumann (Blumenstuck op 19 in Ab
> major). It sounds offal, I mean awful. All of the tones having equal value
> seems to put the temperament in a bad light. The key of Ab in Vlotti-Young
> requires some major finessing by the pianist. 
>  
> I'll experiment with different ways of playing to see how I can make it
> sound well.

Sorry, Tom, you've got it backwards. The purpose of a temperament/tuning
is to serve the needs of the pianist, not the other way around. A pianist
who knows what he's doing should NOT be wasting his time trying to alter
his style of playing--ie touch, tempo, interpretation, voice-leading,
dynamic range, etc--in an effort to make THE TUNING LOOK GOOD. The purpose
and function of the tuning is TO MAKE THE PIANIST LOOK GOOD--no matter
what type of music he is playing, what key(s) it might be in, or what its
dynamic range might be. The pianist and the music he is playing are the
masters, the temperament/tuning (and the TUNER) are servants to both. To
try to maintain otherwise, is--like the slogan of a well-known insurance
company--essentially just another piece of the (c)rock.

Les Smith