tolerance and behaviour, the key to good relationships

[Jason Kanter]

List, I think the different temperaments are analogous to different wines. Can I tell retsina from riesling? How about merlot from cabernet? There should be "wine-tasting" gatherings where two or three different temperaments are prepared and a pianist performs the same pieces on each. The gathered audience, technicians and non-technicians, as well as the pianist, should compare their reactions "blind" -- without knowing, until the end, what the temperaments are. Only the single tuner will know. (Perhaps the tuner should be blindfolded and the positions of the pianos switched!) At the end, provide everyone with not only the name and history of the temperaments, but also the technical data in chart form, making it easy to "see" what you are hearing. What an interesting meeting that would be!

|     I remember one of my classes that used some Debussy on a 
| well-temperament.  It sounded out of tune to several techs. I had to accept 
| that, since there was nothing to debate, they heard what they heard. Those 
| same persons also mentioned that the Bach and Beethoven sounded better than 
| ever before.  This allowed us to engage in a constructive dialogue over how 
| the inequality affected the music.  This is the sort of interchange that this 
| list will allow those with open minds and experience with a variety of 
| tunings.  

List,