<HTML>In a message dated 12/11/= 01 8:04:01 AM Central Standard Time, remoody@midstatesd.net (Richard Moody) = writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-= LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">The other problem with the = argument for HT's is that most people listening to a piano in an HT don't even know they are hearing an HT.  So how= can they hear a "different shading for each key"  or even the "characte= r of the keys"  ?  And if the HT's do bring out a "different shading" f= or each key can you tell us anything specific about that shading for each key and wh= ich HT does this?    But first things first.  If HT's have such effec= t on piano music, can you pick out a recording of the Beethoven sonatas that is in HT from tho= se in ET?  If so we can go from there.   Sooner or later it = might be interesting to see how HT's do in a blind test</BLOCKQUOTE>.<FONT= COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> The problem with ET is that pianists have learned *not to listen* to wha= t they are playing.  It seems to me that many people assume that every = piano tuning that is done is either a perfect ET or an unusable HT.  R.= Moody presented a modern composer with 1/4 Meantone and seemed a little sur= prised that it was rejected.  What else would be expected from a choice= of HT at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from ET? In Bob Hohf's editorial this month, he implies that only ET is the accep= table way to tune a piano because with *any* HT, the piano will be "unplayab= le", to use the very word he used.  What about all of the pianos that a= re tuned in *Reverse Well* without either the tuner nor the customer being a= ware of it?  Do we expect people and scientists to be writing about tha= t?  It seems to me that I am the only person who has ever dared to but = that doesn't mean it isn't happening.  I can assure you all that it is = very pervasive.  And no, I don't want to do any scientific study or doc= umentation of it.  I have already done too much as it is. How often do any of you readers suppose that pianists are using a piano = that is in something less than an ideally tuned piano in a perfect ET? &nbsp= ;This would normally be a good case for the *scientific method* that was pro= posed.  Is it 99% of the time?  Is it even 50% of the time?  = Whatever the answer may be, it means that pianisits, other musicians and lis= teners are exposed to a very wide, uncontrolled variety of erratic "color" i= f we accept the premise that color itself is merely the rate of beating in i= ntervals. It is well known that in the past, "color" was not dissected as it is to= day in the rate of beating of the Rapidly Beating Intervals but in the *whol= e sound* (à la Virgil Smith) of triads and other chords.  This means = that the perception of color was more subconscious than anything else. &nbsp= ;There is plenty of documentation of descriptions of tone color in the books= written about HT's. I like the idea of the blind test that R. Moody proposes but it will pro= bably not come to pass for the simple reason that it pits one PTG Member aga= inst another.  The majority of PTG Members still adhere to the idea tha= t ET is the one and only way to tune a piano and this will probably continue= .  Any kind of *contest* will inevitably have some kind of mild HT resu= lting as the "winner".  It happens every time.  All this would do = is create internal strife, so PTG as an organization is not at all intereste= d and for good reason. I submit that the perceptions that people have about the different ways = pianos are tuned be left to the choices people make *artistically* rather th= an pure science.  That is what I do.  My EBVT is designed to remai= n within the bounds of what the *contemporary ear* (taste in musical percept= ion) will accept based upon my own sense of musicianship and the feedback fr= om the people I tune for.  I consider this to be my prerogative as a pr= ofessional and as such, I will not accept orders from any other technician a= s to how I should or should not tune a piano. 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> </HTML>