temperaments:clear as mud?

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Greetings, 
 wrote;
>>those that want to ascribe different "characters" to the
keys will have to explain why a piano tuned 1/2 step flat will make the key
of C sound just like the key of B. I have heard musicians recognize the
'character" of B on such a piano, even when I was playing in C!!<<

Ron writes: 
>>Because, I think even though you are "playing" in C, the beat rates tell 
the 
sensitive person that you are in fact "sounding" in B.  I heard you use this 
explanation in Chicago, but couldn't figure out what was wrong with it 'till 
later.>>

    I must repectfully disagree.  I have had a lot of musicians sit through 
my experiments,( I do this when I restring a piano, so the flatness is just 
something done,"on the way"),  and we find that this same experiment works in 
a non-equal temperament, also.  A Young, tuned 1/2 step flat, causes the 
listener to recognize the key of B even when I am playing in C.  And this 
temperament has a much faster speed of beating in the B-D# than the C-E. I 
believe that this belies the theory of identifying the key by the speed of 
beating.  ( and how would you explain 1/4 comma, where there is no beating in 
the thirds?,  the same mis-identification occurs!)  
   The flat piano will also cause the listener to mis-identify the key when 
no third is played, but rather, the fifths and  octaves.  So,  how can the 
identity of the key come from a beat rate signified by the third if there is 
no third there?  The brain doesn't extrapolate partials that way.  
  Regardless of temperament, my listeners mis-identified the key based on 
pitch, not beat rate speeds.  So, I agree with Richard B., who posted,  the 
"key-color" ascribed to the keys in ET is totally different from the key 
color produced by a non-ET.  I am still convinced that "color" in ET is pitch 
dependant.  
     In an unequal tuning, a highly tempered key is qualitatively different 
from a consonant one, regardless of the pitch of the piano or what octave you 
are playing in. The literature offers evidence that musicians of 200 years 
ago would be expected to identify the key by the amount of tempering that was 
found in it.(Jorgensen's "Tuning", some page or other.) Does this not also 
support my position? 

Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT