Temperament Tests, Thought # 1

[Fred S. Sturm]

    Amen, Mary, Vive les differences! The passion aroused by temperament
discussions reminds me of reading Harry Partsch, who was convinced (mid 20th
century) that equal temperament is the work of the devil, cultural imperialism,
the ruination of good music. He proceeded to develop a system of "pure"
intervals with whole number ratios. Not just the standard 3:2 5th up to 15:16
semitone, but into much higher numbers. I guess he more or less invented the
"microtonal" movement of the western world (he came up with a scale of
something like 43 notes), which has many passionate followers today (and
included the recently deceased Lou Harrison).
    Curiously, the first instruments he used to demonstrate his notions were
1) a viola, on which I gather he either drew lines on the neck or added frets
2) a harmonium (reed organ of European manufacture, with the airflow opposite
to American reed organs) with a bizarre keyboard.
My own response on reading this was that those two instruments sound like the
last ones I'd use to make fine distinctions on. BTW, Partsch also claimed that
partials had nothing to do with it. He was interested only in the ratios
between fundamentals. Another belief that raised my eyebrows well above my
hairline.
    There are many, many passionate web-sites devoted to many, many passionate
advocates of one strange tuning/temperament or other, and bibliographies that
could take many years to wade through. And that's just the 20th century. There
was plenty of passionate debate in the 15th to 19th centuries (and before), as
well, with any number of respected scholarly types railing against equal
temperament, and proposing their own systems. Some of them left detailed
instructions, often based on use of a monochord (and if you've ever had access
to one, you'll realize that transferring pitches from one to a keyboard
instrument is a tedious and very inexact task). And, it should be noted, most
of these instructions were written by scholars, not practical tuners or
musicians.
    I'll just offer one more comment here: one reason a well-temperament is
_very_ appropriate for Haydn in particular (and sometimes Beethoven) is because
of his predilection for "false recapitulations" in foreign keys. If the
movement of the piano sonata is, say, c major, he might bring the theme back in
a remote key like d flat major. For the audience to "get the joke," it is much
more effective if the remote key sounds much different than the original one.
And it will, in any of the well-temperaments.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

"Mary C. Smith" wrote:

> >Dear List Folks:
> >    An interesting comparison would be to quantify interest in and
> sensitivity to alternative and multiple temperaments vs. interest in one
> solution to the temperament question (E.T. or other), and then compare these
> scores with scores on the Myers-Briggs personality test or the Hartman
> Boundaries Test.
> >    I believe we might be able to show that the different responses people
> have to this issue are deeply rooted in the different ways that different
> personalities perceive the world.
> >    If so, this would provide objective evidence that the question is
> innately subjective.
> >        Ed Sutton
>
> You mean, like "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like."? Not
> to say all you lovely folks don't know much about temperaments - obviously,
> there is a wealth of knowledge here! BUT, I do believe it's subjective. Vive
> le difference!
>
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