Jeff- Let us assume you have the power to make what is bothering you become exactly the way you believe it should be. What would you command to be? Ed S. I suppose I keep feeling like I need to respond because I feel like what I am saying is being misunderstood. People keep responding to statements I've made to support a point, but completely seem to miss the point. And I'm sure it will probably happen again with this attempt. I have no command, but I'd like to not be misunderstood. Please let me be clear (again): I am not opposing the use of unequal temperaments. I have tried a few of them myself, and didn't like what I heard. My ears have grown accustomed to the sound of ET and anything else sounds out of tune to me. It appears obvious to me that advances in music compostion were breaking the bonds of inflexible temperament that only limited the fixed pitch keyboard, and as a matter of practicality, I would side with those who think ET is a good enough umbrella for all genres (which seems to include the faculty at all of the music departments I have served). But that would not keep me from tuning an unequal temperament if I was asked to do so. As a music student, we were occasionally exposed to performances, recorded and live, of period music played on instruments typical of the period, and yes, with keyboard instruments tuned in some non-equal temperament. We were told, "this is how (insert name of composer of historical importance)'s music sounded then" and expected to accept that as authentically credible. Now, we're learning, "not so fast." For one, Stradavari's instruments, for example, were all redesigned and rebuilt during the 19th century, so they can't possibly sound now, like they did in the day. Second, we're learning that, yes, unequal temperaments were used, but that we were completely wrong that ET did not exist before 1887 but was in fact commonly employed at least as far back as the 18th century. And it even appears that some of the temperaments we have been traditionally told were common, only appeared to be so due to the "squeaky wheel" effect and were actually rarely used, if ever at all. I suppose I have a real pet peeve with the active promotion of inaccurate information, most particularly if I become a part of that promotion chain. What I suppose "is bothering me" is that there are those proposing that all professional technicians become experts at tuning the historical tunings and suggesting that if we do not, then we are somehow less than professional, particularly if we paint ourselves with the CAUT brush. While I have expressed my doubts as to there being a significant deserved need for pursuing the subject, I have not once suggested that no one pursue HT knowledge if they are so inclined. But I suppose those of us who choose to not actively promote that market niche deserve some defense, and it is as much to that end that my writings are directed. It should be left as a matter of pursuit for those who are interested in that sort of thing, and those of us who have actually spent some effort on it and don't see it as a practical matter to invest much time in shouldn't be made to feel that we are somehow cheating our clientele, particularly when there is the possibility that those actively promoting unequal temperaments may be in fact guilty of misleading theirs. It is indeed a small market niche that one would have to specifically seek out, if not actively create, if it is deserving of all the time and effort required to build the knowledge base to support. It is not as simple a matter as "learning a bit about", as Fred has demonstrated, having spent more than 35 years accumulating knowledge to the point of being able to speak intelligently on the subject with sources from all sides of the debate. Unless we all pursue the subject as thoroughly as Fred has, it is my opinion that the promotion of ourselves as experts in the matter is unwise. And I'm sure Fred would reject the notion of being considered an expert, but he certainly seems to be the most researched of all who have contributed. He makes it obvious to me that there is too much I do not know to be able to promote the subject matter accurately. It is no different than our PTG position on piano service. We frown on those who read a book and hang out a shingle the next day. If one wishes to "dabble" in historical temperaments, there is certainly no harm in that, as long as any work or opinion offered is accompanied by an appropriate disclaimer. But it appears to me that serving the historical temperament market appropriately could be a career all by itself that would require years of study to learn. Jeff -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20090307/4423681e/attachment-0001.html>
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