Jorgenson and stuff....

Daniel Wolf writes;

>Owen Jorgensen has demonstrated how variable
>actual piano tunings are; his most recent book - someone on the list should
> have the exact reference,

If you are talking about the big red book, it is "Tuning" , from
Michigan State University press.

> Late nineteenth century music is much more interesting intonationally than
is >usually assumed!

The case for non-12ET tunings in late 19th century piano music is not
as strong as it is for music composed before 1850. Jorgenson has introduced
the "Victorian Temperament " as a way to describe the slightly bent equal
temperament that appears to have been in favor during the last of the 19th
century.
The variance this "Victorian Temperament, (VT) shows from true ET is so
small, that I have yet to have an audience notice. This is not the case when
you move farther back, and get into something that definitely shows a variety
of interval widths, ( Jorgenson's listed, "Equal Beating Kirnberger" for
example).
Today's listeners, even the ones accustomed to listening to the classical
repertoire often are not sure if they can tell a temperament difference on
first hearing, but with enough exposure, they get to the point where
something sounds wrong when they hear Beethoven played on an equally
tempered piano.

I have noticed on this list that there is an attitude of combat with
the established 12 ET world; as though one must be an "enemy" of that tuning
system if one is to be a legit microtonalist. Perhaps this is necessary, but
it may also be counterproductive to the goal of expanding the audience.
The more quickly us AT's ,(alternative tuneheads?), can offer
attractive alternatives to modern 12ET, the more quickly the more esoteric
and less familiar stuff will have a chance at being heard by widening
audiences.
My point is, If you are to dislodge a 12-ET type from clinging to the
familiar, so that he may someday enjoy the latest composition for bloganhorn
and organic crystopleyel tuned in the new 1n/Ip-xenwowie-no-limit
amorphous-jughead-micro-function-tuning that somebody finds in a computer
trance, it just may be that listening to familiar music on unfamiliar tuning
is an easier first step than asking them to listen to something that is
strange in both composition and intonation.
To that end, there are a lot of us out in the field, tuning ET for a
living, but promoting nonET for the sake of art. I know virtually nothing of
the microtonal world, ( having found myself totally absorbed by the 18th
century keyboard tuning differences), but what I have observed is, that once
somebody has a pleasurable experience of leaving 12 ET for something else,
they are more likely to have an open mind for alternative tunings in
general. Then you can close up the Steinway and get out the
bloganhorn..................
Regards to all,
Ed Foote
Precision Piano Works
Nashville, Tn
(wondering if any of this microtonal guitar stuff will show up here in
"guitar town")

Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl
with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Mon, 18 Nov 1996 04:56 +0100
Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA15802; Mon, 18 Nov 1996 04:57:30 +0100
Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA15578
Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI)
for id TAA23169; Sun, 17 Nov 1996 19:57:27 -0800
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 19:57:27 -0800
Message-Id:
Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu

There is one - Cubase Score outputs in Adobe Acrobat format
and there is a free viewer for that format. But, it's not much
use even to me, as there is no provision for additional symbols,
let alone for non-12 notations. (And it's copy protected as though
it were the crown jewels with a Mac system that sounds like it
gives the odd nasty surprise on PC's.) It's one reason why I gave
up the notion of publishing music (Scarlatti) on the net, and
have returned to sound recording. If you are VERY byte-techie
inclined, there is a MusicTex system, but I haven't been
able to find a reliable viewer for Tex.

Has anyone found anything better?

Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl
with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Mon, 18 Nov 1996 08:45 +0100
Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA15609; Mon, 18 Nov 1996 08:47:00 +0100
Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA12207
Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI)
for id XAA26569; Sun, 17 Nov 1996 23:46:57 -0800
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 23:46:57 -0800
Message-Id:
Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu