Nice Chord

[Richard Brekne]

Billbrpt@AOL.COM wrote:

> Thanks, Richard,
>
> While there is a lot more to it than this, you have discovered the essence.
> You just can't get the same experience tuning by numbers.  A couple of weeks
> ago, someone wrote about how extreme a 1/6 Comma Meantone sounded when put on
> a piano.  I have some news for that person, a 1/6 Comma Meantone does not in
> any way match the description of what was written.  It is, in fact, a fairly
> mild temperament, excellent for Mozart and Beethoven, a bit much for Chopin,
> yes, but not to the degree that was written.

I am sure there is, and perhaps you might take a moment to explain a bit about a
few things I wonder about from time to time. First,, as long as I am on about
this "chord",,,, I wonder what if any, temperament scheme that might most closely
fit in.

Then there is this buisness about the colour of keys. One thing that has troubled
me all along is that key colour must be related to which temperament one chooses,
and which starting point for each temperament as well. That being the case the
"colour" of B flat (or any other key) is by no means even close to being
constant. In fact it could feasably vary fairly wildly.

Also we keep hearing about the "appropriatness" of certain temperaments with
certain composers or musical time periods. Now you know me and words like
"appropriate"... grin.. but that aside I am wondering how one makes intellegent
choices about which temperament to choose (and which arrangement of that
particular temperament) for any given key signature. By this I mean that its no
point in taking for example a 1/6 meantone that wolfs like crazy in the key of
say F# if the key signature is F#.  (I am just throwing letters and numbers out
there randomly but you get my meaning I think.

> I've said it before and I'll say it again, tuning by the numbers is the
> easiest way for an ET tuner to "discover" that any HT sounds "wrong" and to
> go running back forever to the "safety" of ET.  Too bad that the "ET" that is
> being embraced really isn't ET, it probably is a backwards version of what
> might be a really good temperament if that person only took the time and
> effort to really learn and understand what temperament and octave tuning can
> be.

I tend to aggree with your basic view on EDT's. Potentially great learning aids,
yet all to often they get used as in a manner not condusive to gaining greater
insight into what tuning is all about.

>
>
> Bill Bremmer RPT
> Madison, Wisconsin

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway