old temperaments/new axes

Greetings,
Gordon writes:
>When are you releasing your Beethoven in the Temperaments CD?

We are hoping for a September/october release. I have the record
companies permission to give ordering information to my 'net contacts first,
and then distribution should be through Allegro, so for those that want one,
the first place to get it will be told here the list here, then hopefully,
anywhere.
All the recording is done, the 4,880 words of liner notes are completed,
(I have posted them on the Classica list, but don't know if Tuning wants that
much basic stuff posted, there IS a strong streak of McClaren that installed
itself in the philosophy of where all these notes came from.......)

>In early-music concerts, it is customary to identify in the program notes
>the keyboard instruments that are used (who built them, where, and when).
Ours would read: Steinway D, built by S&S, New York, 1980.

>Perhaps it would help the "temperament crusade" to identify the
>temperaments as well (and not just for the keyboards, come to think of
>it). It would encourage the audience to think about them and listen for
>the differences.

Dang right! I been talking about Mr. Prinz etal. so much, that most
of my temperament customers, ( and a varied lot they are!), pretty much have
a level of max dissonance and a chronological placement associated with

several temperaments. Some of the really savvy ones have been able to
discuss the relative increase "curve" in key colors between two. ( Well,
the difference between a Werckmiester and a Young, I know isn't too
dramatic, but we are getting there)

> Is it just coincidence that the more prevalent
>12TET has become the more string players and singers have used vibrato?

I don't "know" what was done before, so am unable to draw much of a
comparison. I think they are using much vibrato now because they are torn
between the ET note , and a note that just musically screams to be used, (
how's that for a technical description of schizoid intonation?)

>In concerts that have pieces both for strings alone and for strings with
>piano, I have never heard the audience talking about the temperament(s)
>used. I don't think most of them listen closely enough (or know what to
>listen for) to tell the difference.
The response I have gotten from the performers leads me to think that
the effects of leaving ET are strong, but not directly apparent to the
audience. This is based on the reaction I have been getting from, (among
others) vocalists. They say that once the alien nature of well temperament
dissipates, ( usually one accompanied song is all that is required to melt
the ice, if you don't push them....) they find that it is much easier to hit
pitches, they are no longer forced to put notes in what seem to be
"artificial places", and they find a real security with that tonal center.
With that security, phrasing and inflection take less effort. There is
freedom to be creative that comes from this sort of security. I can liken it
to what happens when you get the suspension just perfect on a good
motorcycle, all of a sudden, you can drive it anywhere on the track, able
to change lines when you want or need to. The "zone" gets more of a neural
address. (Hmmm, might be getting a little too far out)
One other telling moment came when we( my artist/conspirator and I),
used the Young temperament for Beethoven's third concerto, ( without
telling anyone). The dean of the school found me later and said that he had
never heard a piano sound so good in front of the symphony like that, That it
stood out like never before. There were numerous comments about how
incredibly tense the artist was able to make the middle section seem . It
appears to have had an effect, but it is a deeper effect than words do
justice. I think the piano temperaments might be more of a subliminal thing,
but I don't use that word out there in customer-land; it scares'em,
makes'em think of UFOs and stuff.

>But you do seem to agree that even the performers don't realize they're
>not playing in 12TET.
Sadly, yes. I have heard incredible musicians tell me that they prefer
ET because that is what they have played with for so long that they play in
ET. Then they go right out there and play perfect thirds and fifths and
everything else, ( if they can). It takes more than tact to be able to tell
a musician that they are not listening. If handled carelessly, it can often
mark the low point of a conversation.

>I agree that it is not difficult to determine a musically appropriate
>temperament, but "works best" and "intended" are quite different things.

Yes, I agree, but Perhaps for different reasons? ,i.e. What was
"intended" is, by now, a "debated-to-death" point. Most of the research has
been done. All the choices have been pretty well identified;" take your
pick"? None of us were there, so we accept this huge circumstantial body of
lore. I can't argue with that, what else is there?
"Works Best" is another thing entirely. We can do stuff with that! To
investigate what "works best" doesn't depend on balancing the weight of
documents or "learned opinions", but rather, listening to temperaments,
getting ones ears attuned to contrasts. The neophyte's reactions are as
valid as the old pro, when given a tonal palette to listen to.
Once some temperament recognition takes place, 12TET suddenly becomes
an identifiable sound of its own, rather than a gray, seamless backdrop.
There is a threshold there, that I think it beneficial to push as many
people across as possible. I hope some of them may then wander into the
realm of microtonality, which is where tomorrow's temperament is going to
come from. It could happen!!
These choices give us room to make musical judgements, it gives us
something to debate. When people listen to different tunings, they can have
a meeting of the minds over a real thing; if somebody asks what dissonance
is, you can show them. They can instantly know what the other accepts.
The only way to carry the field in an "intention" discussion is to gather
more evidence to your side. The way to prove a point in a "Works Best"
debate is to listen, in real time. There is the possibility that there will
be two winners, as both may profit and advance by the experience.
The quality of temperament's effects on music is an ineffable quality.
It is communication that occurs along the emotional circuitry, not the
intellectual, and that is a real problem in selling the point via the
written medium. We are not inclined to be "emotional" with music these
days, and if we are, we often describe how in intellectual ways. I think
that is a shame, but it can be fixed.
Since I can use a tuning hammer, and have a lot of pianos around me,
I am able to make some changes in people's attitudes that talking just would
not do. It amazed me how quickly people could have their sense of tonality
awaken. At least with familiar music. Thus, the CD.
I have been on this list, fascinated by these synth. tuning constructs
that the "math monsters" are able to banter on about, and intriqued by the
guitar stuff on refrets, as well as the avante-garde direction. I don't know
where another group of people like this can be found. ( though I do miss the
female's perspective, seems it is mostly us guys out here in the harmonic
woodshed). I can see how the public, ( that timid heard), is a hard sell
for something so esoteric as the 19-tone guitar, or as radical as 26 13/45
wombat-comma supertone-tuning.
I really hope to see the day that current music comes from many
different temperaments. It is one reason I am so happy to keep a country
recording studio here in a Young well temperament. The guys at this place
have now "discovered" how good a harmonium sounds, and the hurdy-gurdy has
been wielded in the tracks like it was on home base.

>Just to mention a couple examples, what temperament did Bach intend for
>the WTC, and what did John Bull intend for his Hexachord Fantasia?
John Bull would be better discussed by those who know more than I.
It seems reasonable that Bach wanted a "Harmonic Toolbox", (my term
for a good well temperament). Who knows which one? However, the difference
between a Werckmiester and and a Young is not as great as the difference
between 12TET and either of them.
It appears that the WTC I gains improvement with the slightest WT, and
gets progressively better all the way back to Werckmiester's roughest! I
know of at least one tuner that chases the genre back into meantone
territory, but that starts making me think of Jimi Hendrix at times. Even
with all the tempering I wallow around in, my ears are still developing, it
could happen to anybody.

Thanks for the note and excuse the bandwidth I may be sloshing into
undesiring mailboxes.....

Ed Foote,
Precision Piano Works
Nashville, Tn
( out of town and touch for the next week, but still getting the digest , I
hate to be gone when the thread runs deep, but alas, the beach and Daddy-hood
call)



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