In a message dated 12/15/99 9:46:10 AM Central Standard Time, A440A@AOL.COM writes: << Greetings, I hear this statement a lot. Invariably from "perfect pitch" people that have never sat down at an equally tuned piano that is exactly1/2 step flat. However, I have had fresh stringing jobs in the shop that I chipped and pitched 1/2 step flat, and invite those that ascribe colors to ET to come and listen. It never fails that as I play in the key of C, they hear the "color" of B. When I get into G, they always tell me that they recognize the colors in the key of F# when they hear it!! If there are different "colors" ascribed to keys in ET, it is a pitch dependant, learned response. It is not due to the tempering. Regards, Ed Foote >> Ed, I think for the most part you are right. It is difficult to say why I have a different sense of color for different keys in ET. I may be reacting to tember as much as pitch. It could be emotional memory. I may be remembering emotions I felt from different pieces in the same key. (If you look at the totality of music written, esp. before the 20th cent. composers seemed to associate certain emotional states with certain keys.) Human memory is so complex it is difficult to always know how much our past experience is impacting our current experience. With that said I will grant your point and have to try that experiment out on myself soon. Andrew Remillard
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