Wow. I am in awe. Talk about going back to square one..... Thanks for the post! Terry Farrell On Jan 30, 2011, at 4:51 PM, Jason Kanter wrote: > First, a BIG sigh. This argument about aural tuning vs. the ETD has > been going on ... in our craft, since at least the 70s ... in our > culture, for at least 2500 years. It's about technology. There is, > as always, merit on both sides of the argument, but the only real > value comes from embracing both sides at once. > > Bear with me, y'all, please. Here's a quote from Plato's "Phaedrus" > dialog, and then I'll paraphrase a piece of it. Socrates is > speaking, recounting an Egyptian legend about the invention of > writing: > > "Among the ancient gods of Naucratis in Egypt there was one to whom > the bird called the ibis is sacred. The name of that divinity was > Theuth, and it was he who first discovered number and calculation, > geometry and astronomy, as well as the games of checkers and dice, > and, above all else, writing. > "Now the king of all Egypt at that time was Thamus, who lived in the > great city in the upper region that the Greeks call Egyptian Thebes > … . Theuth came to exhibit his arts to him and urged him to > disseminate them to all the Egyptians. Thamus asked him about the > usefulness of each art, and while Theuth was explaining it, Thamus > praised him for whatever he thought was right in his explanations > and criticized him for whatever he thought was wrong. > "The story goes that Thamus said much to Theuth, both for and > against each art, which it would take too long to repeat. But when > they came to writing, Theuth said: 'O King, here is something that, > once learned, will make the Egyptians wiser and will improve their > memory; I have discovered a potion for memory and for wisdom.' > Thamus, however, replied: 'O most expert Theuth, one man can give > birth to the elements of an art, but only another can judge how they > can benefit or harm those who will use them. And now, since you are > the father of writing, your affection for it has made you describe > its effects as the opposite of what they really are. In fact, it > will introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it: > they will not practice using their memory because they will put > their trust in writing, which is external and depends on signs that > belong to others, instead of trying to remember from the inside, > completely on their own. You have not discovered a potion for > remembering, but for reminding; you provide your students with the > appearance of wisdom, not with its reality. Your invention will > enable them to hear many things without being properly taught, and > they will imagine that they have come to know much while for the > most part they will know nothing. And they will be difficult to get > along with, since they will merely appear to be wise instead of > really being so.' > > And here's my paraphrase: > "...But when they came to the ETD, Theuth said: 'O King, here is > something that, once learned, will make the tuners wiser and will > improve their tunings; I have discovered a potion for temperament, > speed, and accuracy.' Thamus, however, replied: 'O most expert > Theuth, one man can give birth to the elements of an art, but only > another can judge how they can benefit or harm those who will use > them. And now, since you are the father of the ETD, your affection > for it has made you describe its effects as the opposite of what > they really are. In fact, it will introduce loss of accurate hearing > into the soul of those who learn it: they will not practice using > their ears because they will put their trust in the display, which > is external and depends on machine programming, instead of trying to > hear the actual intervals from the inside, completely on their own. > You have not discovered a potion for temperament, speed, and > accuracy, but for reading a display; you provide your students with > the appearance of tuning, not with its reality. Your invention will > enable them to tune many pianos without really hearing them, and > they will imagine that they have become good tuners while for the > most part they will know nothing about the true art of tuning. And > they will be difficult to get along with, since they will merely > appear to be wise instead of really being so.' > > My point? Every technological advance is subject to this kind of > argument. Every advance does subtract from the human experience, and > at the very same time, every advance also benefits us in new ways. > We drive in cars and forget how to walk. We watch TV and forget how > to enjoy the passage of time. We email and forget how to engage in > face-to-face conversation. In every case we could get into pitched > battles, arguments available on both sides. Yet each side can > benefit so much by incorporating the other's viewpoint. > > Judge for yourself which of the voices above are open to both sides, > and which are entrenched. > > Jason > > <snip> > -- > | || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| > jason's cell 425 830 1561 > | || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| >
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