Temperament choice

[A440A]

Stephen writes: 
<<It is unfortunately a neglected aspect of pianistic training these
days. But so is musicianship and artistic sense, so intonation-awareness
falls down at the bottom of the to-have list. Most of the younger
generation of pianists seem to concentrate on either: technical prowess or
a perverted anal-retentive anachronistic version of performance practice
or worse both of these. Sad.>>

     GO Stephen!!   I agreed with this so much that I thought it ought to be
posted twice!     

    This is part of the reason why, months ago,  I posted a HT post that
included a line something like, 
"We technicians need to be the agent of change".  
     THAT suggestion lit up a lot of consternation in our midst, and the
debate galloped off into the pit of personality warfare,  ( I saw it as a
minature version of the early 1800 "Temperament Wars" that Owen writes
about!).  We never got around to the finer points of how to raise temperament
awareness, but this is an area where cooperation will really be valuable. 
     It really bums me out to see such a negative atmosphere poison the
battlefield,  when in my non-cyber life out here,  the whole subject of
temperament is associated with fun, glee, and amazement when musicians "click
onto" key color.  Even those that don't readily accept the tunings LOVE having
the debate.    
      However  "Our Debate " on the list,  (in my ideal vision), would have
first centered on whether there should be just one,  or a variety of tuning
promoted by the people that provide tunings.  After that, those that don't
want to discuss the differences could avoid the theater entirely.  
      We can make the case for ET because of both its approximations to many
Pythagorean ratios and/or by the cost-efficiency of a standard tuning.  I can
accept both of those as valid reasons to use ET. I like the sound of it in
many forms of music.
      There are also reasons not to use ET, and for these reasons to have much
impact requires educated listeners, and where do they come from?  From tuners
that have something to say.  The reasons for OT's are more subtle than money,
and knowing them requires more than counting cents.  These are musical
decisions the ear must make when confronted with unequal steps, and all that
that entails.  
 
     What I can't accept is clinging to ET because of ignorance of anything
else. However, this is a reason to teach, not condemn!   Getting a 12TET
saturated musical ear back into the swirling tonalities of 18th century tuning
is a lot like getting a raccoon out of a tree.  If you go up and just begin
shaking the tree, you will get nothing but a mad raccoon, who wants to go
nowhere with you.  If you leave  an ear of corn on the ground, and back off,
you can actually come close to taming one.  
    So it is with temperaments and the public.  
      To find that  path into a persons musical heart, through all the
defenses, without intimidation, and to let them hear the sounds before
anything else,  is the fastest way I have found to increase the numbers of
listeners with broadened appreciation for piano music because of what we do,
i.e., tunings. 
 I tell them  I have a new idea for them, and the intrepid step right in there
and say "sure,  change the tuning".  We are having a wonderful time. 
 
     In essence, I am prodding technicians to consider increasing the
resources that they can offer, and enjoy a larger market for this skill by
educating the future while at the same time causing a increased interest for
us, and what we do.   This is my temperament crusade.  It is what I try to do
while schizophrenically nailing the recording studio$ into a (+-)1 cent wide
ET, (but hey,  you gotta grow cabbage in the cabbage patch). 
   
Regards to all, 
Ed Foote 
P.S.  (Most of the angry words I have seen in our temperament discussion told
me more about the temperaments of the people than the manner in which they
tuned.  I sorta think a lot of them could have been email instead of List
posting.  Just my thoughts on it. )