A Question Concerning Opinion

Hello. I have been reading this list for a couple of weeks now. After just finishing reading an interview of Ben Johnson and hearing his opinions on Equal Temperment, I have a question for this group.

I am relatively new to the world of Just Intonation. I've known the basictheory for years but only recently have I built a Justly Intonated fluteIt is based on a superparticular pentatonic that I read about in a paper written by David Canright. I must admit that it truely does sound very pretty. You can play a virtual version of the flute yourself by pointing a Java enabled web browser to http://www.sirius.com/~touchles/poetry.htm then click on the "Imaginary Ensemble" Icon and follow the instructions.

The interview that I read appeared in William Duckworth's book "Talking Music, Conversations with John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers" (Schirmer Books, 1995). In a preface to the inverview, Ben Johnson is described as an avant-garde microtonalist who studied with Harry Partch, John Cage, and Darius Milhaud.

What follows are some excerpts from the interview that I have interpretedas indicative of his general opinions concerning Equal Temperment.

..music causes psychological results, political results, and social results. Look at the situation of rock music in the world today. It's a cause; it's not simply a passic reflection.

Is our society corrupted? Oh yes, I think so. I think beyond any doubt. And I think that music can take a great deal of the responsibility.

I don't think that the tie between rock music-and even jazz-and drugs is a coincidence.

..all the dissonant music of the twentieth century may well be very unhealthy for us ... Not because it's dissonant. Not even because it's complex. But because it's irrationally dissonant. ... [we should] eliminate thepollution. ... than just taking it for granted and ending up with a damaged world.

I don't think that I have to explain to this group or excerpt the parts of the interview that show why Ben Johnson would think of Equal Temperment as dissonant.

My question is this. Do members of the Just Intonation community basically agree or disagree, and to what degree, with Ben Johnson's opinion as expressed in this interview?

I await any discussion.

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