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<DIV>In a message dated 6/5/2004 4:39:34 PM Central Daylight Time, A440A@aol=
.com
writes:</DIV>
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style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><=
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It may depend on what we are defining as "color".
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<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Ed,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>That is a question. That is why I allowed for a subconscious sens=
e of
key function based on historic experience. However, I do hear a
difference between C Maj. and D Maj. in ET. I would attribute this to
slightly faster thirds in the latter than the former. Yes, relatively
speaking everything is the same but with the tonic located further up the sc=
ale
the key's tonic will have slightly fast beating tonic - mediant
third. Additionally there is the factor of a slight brightening of pit=
ches
as the tonic moves up the keyboard. Add to this my lifetime experience=
with music from 1600 to the present and you may have all the pieces to my
puzzle. But defining the color of blue when it refers to sound is a
difficult thing to do. So until tight definitions of all the
phenomenon are agreed upon we should explore the phenomenon in all of i=
ts
permutations before invalidating someone's particular experience.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I am sure temperament influenced compositional choices. In additi=
on
to temperament you have tradition. In the early stages of development
musical notation didn't allow for key, if the idea of key was even
present. Everything was written without a signature and musica ficta w=
as
added as needed or desired by the performer and later the composer. In=
the
later Baroque period musical notation as we know it today became more or les=
s
standardized. If we were to remove Bach's Well Tempered Clavier from t=
he
mix, very little was written in any key more remote than a couple
accidentals. I think the tradition of simple keys could also attribute=
an
influence here, not to mention the simple fact that most music is written an=
d
played for amateurs and less remote keys are easier for the average person t=
o
read. Ask any teacher about the moans you hear when a student's piece =
has
any more than a few accidentals! It is not until the very late Classic=
al
and early Romantic periods do you begin to see more remote keys, yet this is=
still long before ET is on the seen. That is why I asked Ron for a HT, so I
could explore this music in a temperament more appropriate to its time. =
;
What surprised me was how well the 20th century music also sounded.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Andrew</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>