Two more students to report on Pretty much the same thing. They dont really notice anything and it seems evident that it is really quite a simple matter of not knowing what to listen for. In 5 cases now a 15 minute chat with them seems to raise their curiousity enough to go back and try and figure out whats different. And in each case a bit later ( in a couple cases a couple days later) I am asked rather tentatively if it has anything to do with the tuning. One fellow was on the ball enough to ask if C major was more "clean" then some other keys. What seems evident is that with very little training these students would be able to recognize such basic tuning differences quite easily, and I suspect that most of them good become quite clever at discerning temperament variations if they decided to thoroughly set themselves to the task. I suppose actually it could be quite possible to make them quite ET aware for that matter.... that is to say equipe them with the aural skills necessarry to pick an ET tuning apart. Though that would be quite dependant on their own committment to such an endeavour. As far as choosing between the two grands in the professors room. The professor in question has been sick so I havent been able to get his opinion. But one student was put to the test today, and her immediate reaction was decidedly positive, tho this was based on just a few seconds play on the instrument with the Well Temperament tuning. She said right of that it sounded much better then it had sounded in the past. I told her to play around with it, do a few peices on both pianos and compare and try and put a finger on whatever differences she could identify. Her curiosity peaked immediatly and she moved her practice session into the room. I will probably run into her tommorrow. If nothing else this exercise definatly shows that the students are enthusasitic about the possibility of something new and different to check out. How far that "novelty effect" will take them remains to be seen. In any case I am enjoying the process. Cheers RicB -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html
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