More Re: Hist vs EQT

[fndango@azstarnet.com]

Stephen Birkett's comment about tonal changes when a piece is played in
different keys triggers some memories about pianists I have known who
swear to this. (We're in ET here.) Consider this, as well: at the 1985
PTG Convention in KC, Mike Glazebrook (Steinway-London), in his class on
concert prep, commented on different pianists playing the same piano and
making it sound like different pianos. I think it would be safe to say
that a piece could be played twice in a row (in ET) in the same key or
in different keys and sound different. 

So what about different temperaments? How would the above comments
apply? Would the actual differences in interval beat speeds be of
greater consequence than the style, mood, pitch level, etc. of the piano
and pianist(s)? 

I occasionally tune pianos to non-A440. I think the lowest I have ever
tuned is 500 cents flat(a low-end English birdcage). I can't play many
pieces, but when I try one I know at a few semitones flat, it sounds
kind of weird. I presume that people with a more accomplished
sensibility to absolute pitch can feel uncomfortable with a much lesser
difference in pitch.

I don't buy Tom Cole's cooking analogy. Who says that ET represents the
"unspiced, neutral" possibility in temperaments? One may be used to fast
beating 3rds and 6ths, and that's OK. But it is arbitrary. I can accept
such polar opposites in temperament tastes as Bill Bremmer and Tom
Cole(if I'm picking the wrong examples, fill in your own choices). I'm
glad we don't all feel constrained to prefer the same thing.

Another analogy, which may shed a different light, would be the
difference in spelling conventions of today compared to the 16th and
17th century(please forgive me if I miss the exact mark by a century or
two). The point is that spelling used to be much less uniform than it is
now. It didn't seem to matter much whether you spelled "again" or
"agen". The writer used whatever felt right at the time. Today it is
much more convenient to "progress" to have uniformity of spelling,
measurements, currencies, etc. I think ET is a reflection of this trend
in a world that has become much smaller. Uniformity has its pluses and
its minuses. I count the minuses when I drive down a street in any city
in America and see the same stylized businesses. It seems like a country
of clones. 

I would also suggest that if there really is a lot of variation from key
to key in ET because of voicing differences, etc., then there is too
much variation in touch and voicing from note to note.

Finally, Doug Hershberger's comment about tuning by ear vs EDT tuning
reminds me of a statement Al Sanderson has made more than once - "Of
course we EDT tuners aren't allowed to use our ears."

Thanking you all for your indulgence,

Bob Anderson
Tucson, AZ