EBVT Offsets (compilation)

[A440A@aol.com]

Kent wrote: 
>>including having the ability to explain the relative beat rates
> that are forming the key colors they are hearing in the esoteric
> temperament we just tuned for them.  :)
 
Ric asks: 
>Ok, start explaining,  what exactly in the HT's forms key colors
> and how is this absent from ET?   What is confusing to me is lack
> of a definition of key color itself especially when applied to
> temperament.

    Gee,  Ric, are you asking or trolling?  Key color is the same as "level 
of expression", which is based on psycho-emotive effects resulting from 
various levels of dissonance.  We know that consonance is sedative and 
dissonance is stimulative, so it isn't a real stretch to understand that 
varying their amounts in music will cause the emotional state of the 
sensitive listener to be affected.  
     Listening to the WTC C# prelude on a Werckmeister tuning will 
demonstrate this effect if you hear it in C# and then listen to it played in 
C.  The C#, with its highly tempered,(albeit masked by alteration) thirds 
creates a more stimulative sound.  "Color" might not perfectly address this 
difference, but "level of expression" certainly does it for me.  
    Aside from "color" and all the baggage that goes with it,  how about the 
temperature of temperaments?  It is not uncommon for musicians to describe 
the difference between ET and WT in terms of heat!  When I have two pianos 
side by side in these temperamenti (!),  the common response is that the WT 
sounds "warmer".  Why would this be so?  I believe it results from there 
being a textural aspect to the WT that the ET lacks, ie, the ET has only one 
size of third and fifth, while the WT offers contrasts on a tonal level.   

      What I find is that in the hands of Classical composers, the use of 
these various "colors" seems to follow predictable expectations.  It is rare 
to find a musical resolution that moves from a less tempered triad to a more 
highly tempered one, unless the musical intention was to create anticipation. 
 Sonatas almost always ended by moving from more highly tempered regions 
downward to greater consonance, as modulating "up" would have created rising 
expectations that would be unmet when the music ended.  This characteristic 
faded as the use of ET rose and the "colors" faded.  
     It is also more than coincidental that the number of piano compositions 
in the various keys indicates that the keys with the most dissonance are the 
ones that are used least!  Compare the number of piano sonatas in F# to the 
number of them in C.  If we look at Beethoven's output, we see that, with the 
exception of Eb, which he used more than anything,  the keys are used in 
numbers that mimic a reverse graph of thirds' widths!   The more "expressive" 
keys were used as the home key least.  I suggest that this is because if one 
were to start in F#,  it is hard to "go" somewhere and then comfortably 
return.  I have a musicologist presently working on this, will hopefully have 
a new set of charts by winter. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT