Hearing the difference (or maybe not)

[SidewaysWell1713@aol.com]

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In a message dated 12/28/02 1:32:50 AM Central Standard Time, bigda@gte.net 
writes:


> OK.  Great idea.  Let's stop talking about it and do it.  Bremmer, Foote, 
> Jorgenson:  line up 6 C7s; tune 5 in various HT's; tune one by Virgil 
> Smith in ET; it would be the real truth.....or at least that day's 
> version of it.  Let our ears hear, finally, what all this hoo-rah is 
> about, in real time, from the real piano to our real ears.  
> 
> 

Actually, I was only being facetious.  There was such a Temperament Festival 
in 1998 and although there was clearly one temperament which emerged as the 
favorite,  the process was far from being scientifically controlled and it 
really never could be.

The organizer of that event told me he had a very hard time with the 
Institute Committee.  They told him it caused "too much stress".  Knowing who 
the Director is this year and his attitude about any and all temperament 
exhibitions, dating as far back as 10 years ago, I can assure you that 
nothing of the kind will happen.  At most, there will be one token 
presentation whose importance will be downplayed to the level of "Player 
Piano Roll Rewinder Repairs".

At that 1998 event, there was a fellow whom I had considered to be a friend 
of many years who on one of the previous nights played and sang for an 
extended period on a piano in a public place tuned the same as the winning 
piano at the Festival.  I asked him how he liked that piano.  His reply was, 
"It was out of tune".  When I tried to explain to him that what he heard was 
deliberate, he could only reply, "It was *out of tune*, Bill.  When I asked 
him why he played on it and seemed to enjoy it for so long, he said, "A lot 
of people don't get them right, I just don't listen to that".

Outside the room where the Temperament Festival was to be held, he was seen 
and heard encouraging people to go next door to the Cyber Cafe.  "*That* is 
where the future of our business is", he was saying.  When I questioned him, 
he proclaimed, "Temperament doesn't matter, only octaves and unisons do".  
That is when I challenged him to prove it by organizing the "Temperament 
Doesn't Matter Festival" next year.  Understanding the fallacy in what he was 
telling people, he quit.  

Ironically, he quit PTG and the piano business entirely within that year and 
has not been heard from since.  He used to be a participant of Pianotech but 
rarely offered anything of value, only jokes and other nonsense.  I 
understand the reason for his quitting was an injury, the very same one which 
I had the misfortune to sustain two years later.  I never stopped working, 
just adapted my techniques and procedures to get around the problem.  I was 
back to work only 5 days after surgery.  But he had a government job and had 
a doctor certify that he could no longer work as a piano technician.

There is truly a difference between all of us.  None of us see the same set 
of circumstances the same way.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin
<A HREF="http://www.billbremmer.com/">Click here: -=w w w . b i l l b r e m m e r . c o m =-</A>

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