why ET's

Actually, that is an interesting question. If I am not mistaken, the
original impetus for developing eq temps in western music was to be able
to modulate to distant keys, and be somewhat in tune. The history of
meantone and well temperaments seems to bear that out. Using Papa Bach as
a prime example, his music would have been impossible to realize in any
sort of pure tunings. So would jazz, or any music with more than a few
chord changes...and, I love music with chord changes.
As to the comment that we now have keyboards that can play pure
tunings, that's great for keyboard players, but maybe not for the rest of
the musicians in the world who play other axes.
And, Marion's comment that he thought people gravitated to eq temps
because they were "easier"...easier in what way? I certainly admit that
pure tuning understanding is a vast and endless subject...I am working
toward that goal daily, and it's a long haul. However,do we mean, by
easier, intellectual understanding, or the performance of great music? If
we mean performance, than I must frankly say that much music in pure
tunings that I've heard is abysmal, more of an attempt to demonstrate the
tuning rather than to be a great musician. This is referred to as
microdoodling (in some places). I'm not so sure that modulating through a
cycle of major or minor 3rds in 34 tone eq, and writing a killer chord
progression off of same cycle, and then improvising (or composing) a
great solo over those changes, is terribly easy. This is one of my future
projects, and it is a bear. Again, musician and theorist surely overlap
in places, but too often, in my experience, there's a lot of talk about
tunings, much of which is quite advanced, but little advanced music to
back up the talk.
Much great music has been made in 12 eq, and I am listening to some
killer flamenco as I write...yes, I am bored to tears with 12 eq, but you
"just" champions better get on the ball, then, and do some serious
playing and composing, instead of chattering...then, your words will have
more real depth and meaning...Hstick (PS...and certainly, such folks as
Lou Harrison, the Reinhards, Catler Bros, John Schneider, and a few
others, have made great "just" music...not to mention the zillions of
Indian, Arabic, and Turkish musicians who have been doing so for
thousands of years)...(PS 2...my friend Ernie Crews had a dream a while
back that the "just intonation" folks had taken over the world, and had
outlawed eq temps...ho ho)

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