In a message dated 6/2/99 12:06:24 PM Central Daylight Time, JIMRPT@AOL.COM writes: << Thanks for your help in clearing up any negative comments about communication between Gina and myself and Baldwin's decision to use equal temperament tunings. Kent">> >> Time heals all wounds. This is not what the visibly shaken Kent Webb said to me after Gina Carter, then Vice President of PTG used her office to exert her influence. It should be noted that she had been in trouble with a lot of people in the organization that year with charges and counter charges being filed right and left and long letters of grievance and rebuttal being passed around. Gina had used her "ex-officio" power to assert and insert herself in committees where she was not wanted and had no business. She did so after the Balwin Recital in 1995 too. Yes, the temperament used on that occasion was the boldest and strongest yet, the 1/7 Comma Meantone. It had many people very interested. So much so, that people were gathering all around the piano, testing and listening to intervals and asking questions afterwards. The great majority of the audience was very impressed. Yet, as you might expect, what might please, interest and titillate most listeners sounded objectionable to a few, a very few. When I pointed this out to Kent, he said that it would be better to have no one complain at all than to have the few "very vocal" and irritating complaints that he heard. The fact that one of those complainers was the Vice President of PTG carried a great deal of weight. A vice president, an administrative office held not by a seasoned and truly experienced professional but by a relative beginner but one who knew how to get herself elected. The use of a Historical Temperament is often accompanied these days with the "unless the artist asks for it" phrase. One good way to make sure that no artist will ever ask for something is to make sure that the artist does not know what to ask for. One good way of putting down something that you don't know how to do, do not understand and have no desire to learn is to ridicule it and write things like "I was not impressed" on the Pianotech List. Then proceed to call it "unethical, if not illegal behavior". Still not having any basis or understanding of what you are condemning, mind you, but having the clout and the force of nearly all the people on the list behind you, you can say or do anything you want. Get your boyfriend on your side and have him put in his two cents every time you assert yourself or have your assertions rebutted. Then get a couple of old buffoons who like to spout off "wise sayings" on your side. You've got an army now and you can win any fight. The whole List will be with you and against that one "crazy guy" who dares to come up with such unheard of nonsense! The fact is that there will be no Historical Temperament performance at the Convention this year because there are a few people within the organization, just a few, but those few are well represented by the likes of Gina Carter, who do not want you to hear anything new or different. Why? Because if you do, you might start talking about what you heard and might start doing it yourself and may get an artist interested who might actually request something other than what those few know how to do. That is the danger. You might learn something that they don't know and then they would lose their grip on you and on the prevailing ideas of how a piano might be tuned. How did Gina Carter ever get to be a "Tuning Instructor" at the Convention anyway? Is it because she has decades of experience tuning at the highest levels and teaching others to do the same? It seems fitting that the one thing you might let someone who just has to be in control of others if not the entire organization do is a "Rough Tuning" class. No one expects it to be stable or accurate, much less something that someone might want to perform on. I wonder how it might seem to her if someone decided to write publicly on the List, "I truly was NOT IMPRESSED with Gina Carter's Rough Tuning class. Why, she took an hour and a half to do what anyone else could do in 15 minutes." Then, "I think the errors, flat octaves and instability of Gina Carter's tunings constitute unethical, if not illegal behavior". "If sued in court over one of her tunings, she would surely lose to all the expert witnesses who would testify against her." List, it is time to get real about this stuff. I know that I have offended many people with my writing style and I am truly sorry that I have. This List is for the open discussion of Piano Technology and all of the things new and old that are a part of it. It is not for one liners about beer, whiskey, Scottish kilts, dogs, etc. It is not a place for people to assert their desire for power and control over others. If Gina, Jim and any others with whom I have disputed will agree to treat me and the subject of Historical Temperaments or other innovative and alternative tuning techniques with the same respect they, themselves expect to be treated, there will be no more disrespect from me. I did not come on to this List to become part of a clique and to engage in coffee talk and gossip. Another list has been created for those that want that kind of interaction. I will never be a part of that. Will there be a truce? Will there be peace? It is up to those who are responsible for the source of the trouble to make some changes. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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