ET..phone home

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

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Jon,

There are different ways of thinking about this and although I see your 
reasoning, I agree with what Avery says.  You may often see me write that I 
"don't ask and don't tell" but that was not originally my idea.  When first 
using HT's, I wanted to *fully inform* everyone.  While some people were 
receptive, the majority of people were suspicious and reluctant.

All you have to do is propose that you are going to do something *different*, 
no matter how slight it may be and the answer will be "No, just the regular, 
please".  People today have grown up with the concept of equality, so to 
propose inequality seems to be a folly.

I'll bet that I would have the same reaction that you did almost 100% of the 
time if I said that I had something different to try, tuned only the 
temperament octave or midrange and played some intervals or chords.  The 
answer would almost always be, "No thanks, that sounds ___________" (fill in 
the blank with whatever negative comment of rejection from the infinite 
palette of them that there is available).

Now, it may be true that this person is particularly perceptive and if you 
had gone and done something that you, yourself are not yet quite sure about 
and perhaps haven't yet quite perfected, you may have been burnt.  You may 
have received a call saying that the piano sounds different, it isn't the 
same or it isn't right.  Then again, you may have been told how wonderful it 
sounds but the highest probability would have been that you would have not 
received any comment at all.

The latter would mean that what you did was accepted subconsciously.  Those 
of us who believe in the concept of Cycle of 5ths based temperament believe 
that ET is the temperament which has been forced upon the public, not the 
other way around.  Yes, some people have adapted to and become accustomed to 
that sound, particularly piano technicians.

Remember that most of your customers work with the piano you have tuned in a 
less than perfect state most of the time.  It's only as good as it's going to 
be on the day you did it, from then until the next time, it is accepted for 
what it has become.  You, personally might not ever want to sit and listen to 
music being played on it when it obviously needs tuning but your customer has 
no choice.

This all means that the average piano user, even the professionals will 
accept quite a bit more range of possibility than you would personally.  In 
developing the EBVT, I strived to work within that range and in fact, have 
had far fewer complaints about the tuning not sounding right than I ever did 
when I still tuned in ET.  But of course, there is only so far you can go 
with differences in tempering until you would reach a threshold of 
intolerance. 

Although I have never used the temperament you speak of, it appears to be a 
safe one.  I would suggest using it without announcement in some situations 
you would feel safe in doing so, especially where you can come back and 
listen to music being played on it, such as a church choir piano, a hotel 
piano bar, a clubhouse, etc., and observe people's reactions.  Don't tell 
anybody that you did anything different, don't even ask if they notice 
anything, just observe whether people seem to enjoy using and listening to 
the piano more than they used to.  I'll bet anything that you'll see that 
they do.  It's been my experience hundreds of times over.


> At 09:10 PM 2/22/2002 -0600, you wrote:
> >Jon,
> >If you hadn't told her, she'd probably have never known the difference.
> >I have a Coleman 11 in one of my voice teacher's studio and as far as
> >I know, she's had no complaints. The same in a practice room with
> >Broadwood's Best.
> >
> >Avery
> >
> >At 05:28 PM 02/22/02 -0500, you wrote:
> >>I offered a Moore Well Temperament to a vocalist who is more in the 
> >>operatic vein.
> >>I set the temperament and asked her to listen.  She said that is sounded 
> >>metallic and wanted ET. No problem.
> 
> 
> Avery,
> I'd rather give her the option with only the temperament set rather than 
> chance retuning the whole piano.
> And I would not spring it on someone unknowingly after years and years of 
> tuning their piano in my
> best attempt at ET.
> 
> As far as most people are concerned, there is only one way to tune a piano. 
> I like to offer them a variety
> but not force it on them.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Jon Page,   piano technician
> 


Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin
 <A HREF="http://www.billbremmer.com/">Click here: -=w w w . b i l l b r e m m e r . c o m =-</A> 

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