more on this temperament thing...

[David Ilvedson]

Ron,

Of course some pianists are going to like HT.  I have talked with one great
jazz pianist and he hated HT, absolutely hated it.  I don't believe for
second that the majority would ever take HT over ET on a regular basis.
Question:  Do other instruments have to be set up for HT?  What is the
tuning on a saxophone for instance?  Is tuned to some sort of a ET?
Obviously pitch can be altered as playing somewhat...how much?  

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 10/19/01 at 7:18 PM Ron Koval wrote:

>In response to those that have talked about playing music that is not in
>the 
>"right" keys for alternate temperaments, I'd like to share a little story.
>
>I work at a performing arts high school, where I freely experiment on the 
>faculty.  A few years ago, a new faculty member came that is a jazz
>pianist. 
>  This coincided with my interest in tuning alternate temperaments, so I
>set 
>on his piano many different HTs.  At that time I used the mind-set of
>making 
>the thirds at the top of the circle of fifths sound BETTER than those at
>the 
>bottom.
>
>An ****AHAAAA**** moment with this faculty member forced me to rethink my 
>'tuner's' mindset.  I had recently retuned his piano and he showed up at 
>lunch and said, "wow, what did you do to my piano?  I played this chord
>and 
>just had to let it ring, it sounded so great!"
>
>Being in the tuner's mindset, I thought to myself, "He must have liked the

>C,G, or F chord, with the real smooth thirds."  Imagine my surprise when
>he 
>said it was a Db arpeggio from the middle to the top; over a B, F#, and an
>A 
>in the bass.
>
>*******AHAAAAAAA********  What an alternate temperament gives a composer
>or 
>a pianist is like a painter's pallette;  more tone color to play with. 
>Blue 
>isn't better or worse than red, it's just different. Likewise, C isn't 
>better than F#, it's just different. In the hands of an accomplished 
>composer, or performer, alternate temperaments enhance the pallette of
>sound 
>available through modulation.
>
>something to chew on this weekend!
>
>Ron Koval
>
>Chicagoland
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp