why use non-ET?

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 4/20/00 8:58:50 PM Central Daylight Time, JIMRPT@AOL.COM 
writes:

<< Nowhere in that post is there a mention of the relative ease, or 
difficulty, 
 of tuning 'any' temperament and if there is to be a response, that response 
 should not include comment on, implications or inferences to content which 
 does not exist. >>

Once again it is demonstrated that the temperament topic provokes strong 
reactions and emotions.  Yes, Ron's graphs are interesting, but lest we be 
tempted to draw the wrong conclusion from them, let me point out that Ron 
deliberately tried to do what all proponents of HT's do: deceive by 
manipulating the facts.

Everyone can see that the keyboard is arranged chromatically, not in the 
Cycle of 5ths arrangement that Ron just pulled out of nowhere.  Where do 
these guys get this kooky idea about the cycle of 5ths anyway?  What has that 
got to do with anything?  Everyone knows that when you modulate, you do it 
chromatically like when you play Heart & Soul and everyone knows as one great 
mentor used to tell us, that you can *only* play Heart & Soul in ET.

The obvious reason that ET is the one and only way to tune a piano is clearly 
demonstrated by Ron's graph.  ET is the straight and narrow path, the path of 
least resistance.  Rearranging the keyboard on paper so that the obviously 
crooked and jagged array of disorganized sound that any HT creates into a 
big, smooth curve merely tries to disguise the obvious truth that everyone 
inherently knows:  The use of HT's is a crooked undertaking.  It is an 
unethical endeavor.  There is a good reason *why* all of those *other* 
temperaments are *historical*.

Of course, not everyone is perfect.  So, allowing a *little* margin for error 
is OK.  That won't really make the good, straight and narrow path crooked. It 
just shows that man itself is naturally imperfect and needs the guidance of a 
higher source to keep him on that path of righteousness.  So, as long as you 
*think* you are tuning ET and that you *believe*, in your heart and have it 
deeply embedded into your conscious that ET is the only one and right way, 
you are OK.  You deserve to live and practice the piano tuning profession.

But these graphs should also serve as a warning.  Anyone who digs up the dirt 
of the past, the dirt that Helmholtz and White had buried and dusted their 
saintly hands of already 100 years ago and more, and tries to make something 
out of will be dealt with and shown no mercy.  After all, any such acts of 
defiance can only be a matter of choice.  The choice to be deviant.  The 
choice to interfere with others lives and to make victims of unwitting and 
unsuspecting good people.  These actions do not come naturally, they can only 
come about with premeditated deliberateness.

Any *knowledgeble* attempt at *manipulation* of temperament (that word alone 
should raise a flag) is unethical.  It is against all Common Law practice.  
No university, no concert artist, no manufacturer, no music teacher, no 
homeowner and no self respecting piano technician ever asks for anything but 
ET nor wants anything but ET.  We all know this already.  So why do these 
people exist?  Why do they persist?  There ought to be a way to get rid of 
them.

There, is that a better conclusion to draw form the recent discussion of 
temperament on this List, Jim?

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin