Non-ETs; more organic than ET?

[Avery Todd]

I'll be very interested to see what Ed Foote has to say
about this, since he tunes WT for quite a few of those!

Avery

At 05:20 PM 4/3/04, you wrote:
>Thanks Don,
>     Another benefit of ET, I suspect, is that it
>allows for some wondrous, complex chords such as those
>we jazzers ( and Debussiers  ) enjoy, which would
>probably sound wretched in a "Historical" temperament.
>    Anyone care to differ ???
>      Thump
>
>
>--- "Don A. Gilmore" <eromlignod@kc.rr.com> wrote:
> > I may be an engineer, but I'm also an advanced,
> > conservatory-trained pianist
> > of some 32 years experience (I started at the
> > conservatory when I was eight
> > in 1972) and  I come from a line of five generations
> > of professional
> > musicians (my grandfather was a famous jazz
> > bandleader, singer and
> > saxophonist in Kansas City).  That's more than can
> > be said for most tuners.
> >
> > What was heard in Mozart's day was inferior, just as
> > automobiles of 1915
> > were inferior to the ones today.  Mozart didn't play
> > in a primitive
> > temperament because he wanted to; he did because
> > there wasn't a better way
> > yet.  There is a concrete, musical reason why
> > virtually all instruments are
> > tuned to ET and it has nothing to do with the
> > "tidiness" of mathematics (and
> > ET isn't constucted with a rational number, by the
> > way).  ET is the *only*
> > temperament where everyone plays the same intervals
> > within a key and in all
> > the keys all the time.  There is no other.  In *all*
> > other systems *no* two
> > keys sound alike.  In *all* other systems you cannot
> > have equal consonance
> > for all intervals, even in the same key.  If you
> > flatten the E in the major
> > third between C and E to be more consonant, the
> > resulting third from E to G#
> > will not be the same...in fact it will be *worse*
> > than ET.  And all other
> > intervals that include that E will be changed by
> > varying degrees.  I have
> > played in other temperaments and it is a pain in the
> > ass, especially when
> > accompanying other instruments.
> >
> > ET wasn't foisted upon the musical community by
> > dastardly engineers,
> > politicians, or by divine decree; it was invented
> > *by* musicians and has
> > been universally adopted because WE LIKE IT and
> > because it solves the many
> > problems and limitations you experience if you don't
> > use it.  I AM a
> > musician.  ET vastly simplifies music for us and
> > lets us all play and
> > modulate with complete freedom.  Any other
> > temperament is a gimmick, like
> > titanium golf clubs or a six-string bass guitar.  A
> > $500 cue isn't going to
> > make you shoot pool any better and a fancy tuning
> > isn't going to make you
> > sound any better.
> >
> > Don
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "David M. Porritt" <dm.porritt@verizon.net>
> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> > Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 1:17 PM
> > Subject: Re: Non-ETs; more organic than ET?
> > > Engineers (who are not always the most artistic
> > lot) tend to think that if
> > a temperament can be constructed with a rational
> > number it must be right.
> > However, if one wants to hear what Mozart was
> > hearing you can't use ET.  Of
> > course hearing what Mozart heard might not be
> > important to you, but if it
> > is................
> > >
> > > dave
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
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