Temperaments

[Evoniuk, Gary E]

>Hmm, that is some trick. According to Howard Rosen, horns and reeds are
built to play in ET, so you have an entire orchestra adjusting their
intonation on the fly, arriving together at Just intonation? This beggars
the imagination. ( at least, my beggarly imagination). 

Well, imagine it, because that's just what happens.  I am constantly amazed
at the ability of top-flight orchestral musicians to accomplish this on the
fly, but accomplish it, they do.  God help the 2nd trombonist who doesn't
drop the F# in the final D major chord of Brahm's 2nd Symphony into a
perfectly pure major third (I've heard it when it doesn't happen, and it's
not pretty, believe me).  Okay that's not a great example (the trombone is,
after all, one big tuning slide).  I read a quote from Dale Clevenger, the
legendary principal horn of the Chicago Symphony about how a really fine
horn section plays the opening of Tchaikowsky's 4th Symphony.  The same
written E (sounds A) that repeats over several measures is adjusted slightly
as it goes from being the tonic, to third of a chord, to something else
(can't remember).  

Absolutely amazing but absolutely true.  It takes a fine musician to do it
but they exist.  Just about any note on an orchestral instrument can be
"lipped" or otherwise manipulated flat or sharp by 50 cents or so.  

Gary Evoniuk
Durham, NC