In a message dated 4/12/00 7:20:05 PM Central Daylight Time, richardb@c2i.net (Richard Brekne) writes: << You wanta respond to all this by staying home, and loosing a fine opportunity to share what you have learned with many interested parties at the convention, well hey.. I cant stop you. But like I say.. I think its a bad move. And I think you do yourself a diservice in the same pass. >> Richard, I thank you so much and I must admit that both public and private mail say very strongly that there is genuine interest in the EBVT. There is also a CD in the works but I don't know if it will be a reality by July. At the time I made the decision, I also had another offer to be both a concert tuner and vocalist at a 3 day event during the same time period. My disappointment with PTG contacts made my decision easier to go with the music, the way I like it to be and among people who do genuinely like what I do and know about what it is too. Since I have already canceled my plans at the Convention, I am not sure the opportunity is still there. There is perhaps a possibility that I could get the music event moved ahead or later by one week. There has been no publicity sent out on that yet. It would also help a lot if I could find a venue for live music on a piano tuned in the EBVT at the Convention. Even a piano bar would be OK. I have done that before (and also got the usual flack for it too). Nobody ever noticed that the piano in such a circumstance was anyhow different. They only noticed that it was tuned well and that the music sounded good. Most expressed interest when told that it was something different but some felt they had been deceived or were the "guinea pigs" in an "experiment" and were angry about that. That was the case with the 1/7 Comma Meantone. I wanted to inform people but Kent Webb chose not to do so. I think one of Ed Foote's tunings also should be heard elsewhere in the context that only ET has usually been heard in before. Hearing real music as it is usually played by real musicians in the usual kinds of settings is the way to convince people that other tuning standards do have merit and possibly greater appeal. At the very least, this can normalize people's feelings about the subject and do a lot towards ending some of the unfounded beliefs and irrational fears that many people have. What Les said about not being able to recognize the difference until a comparison was made is a very typical experience. What Owen Jorgensen observed is very true and for a good reason. Most pianists work most of the time with a piano which is at least somewhat out of tune. Only the highest caliber professionals get their pianos tuned every day. All others learn to accept imperfection. Therefore, there may be a very wide range of possibilities that the general public may accept. After all, the public often accepts Reverse Well as I have so often pointed out, surely it can accept a deliberately crafted temperament and tuning which is something other than ET. The fact that even among piano technicians, many can't really tell the difference between one temperament or another in a normal musical context demonstrates that there is room for manipulation of the temperament to pursue goals of clarity and color in tuning. That is what the EBVT is all about: Color and clarity from a tuning that pleases everyone and offends no one, even the most critical of artists and piano technicians. Of course, 100% success is not exactly expected but in my own personal experience, my customers have had far greater satisfaction with my EBVT tunings than with the best ET tunings I could do. Another thing Les said about having to tune mostly common pianos should be addressed. Steve Fairchild invented his temperament which turned out to be the very same as the widely used Vallotti Temperament for that express purpose. He reasoned that people who played these kind of pianos used the simpler keys more than the remote. He therefore tuned them to sound sweeter and people liked them better. The customer does not have to understand every detail of what is done. If the customer likes better the way the piano sounds tuned in a different temperament from ET, that is all that matters. The allegation that to tune another temperament without disclosing that fact and without approval, etc., is unethical has never come to a venue of judgment to my knowledge and never will in my opinion. If the customer does not like the tuning, the technician will not tune that piano again. It is as simple as that. Those who allege unethical practices, conduct or violation of common law are merely voicing an opinion based upon the many myths that surround the use of ET. As commonly held as many of those beliefs are, they are baseless and groundless. That kind of thinking is now obsolete. I am glad Michael has done the recent work he has done and also that he has seen that modern music can often be played in what he has called "Meantone". I presume he means 1/4 Comma Meantone. This has been a point I have tried to make. There are Meantone Temperaments all the way from 1/3 to 1/11, each having a different sound and characteristics. It would be a good idea to always identify which Meantone temperament is being written about. I have also noted that Jazz can be played in virtually any of the Meantones (although I don't really think it would work very well in 1/3). The wolf key always provides a highly energized sound that many pianists like to work with rather than avoid. I was also glad to hear encouragement from Avery Todd and what he did with Kirnberger and Chopin. I would have to say that this was uncharacteristic of Owen Jorgensen to recommend a temperament that was seemingly not of the proper period. When he was a professor, he had to always bear traditional practice in mind. He would not make such recommendations even if he personally felt they might make very appealing results because they would go against known historical precedents. He did, however observe in Madison many years ago that an 18th Century Modified Meantone Temperament was being used as a substitute for a Well-Tempered Tuning and he praised the technician who made the discovery that this temperament worked so well with so many kinds of music, even 20th Century music. That was where the EBVT got its roots, at that seminar. Avery, if you think Chopin sounded good in Kirnberger, try 1/7 Comma Meantone, the 1/7 Comma Meantone with 1 pure 5th discovered by Tim Farley, or the 1/8 Comma Meantone. You have never heard a more powerful and Romantic sounding key of Ab for all 19th Century music written in that key. And Jazz, it will never be jazzier. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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