harmonization of songs on piano

There were three posts responding to my speculation
regarding what I had taken to have been a positive
response of a community of indians in North Dakota to the
musical efforts of the missionary who had brought
the piano. There is first the matter of what, in fact were the
true feelings of those indians. Bill Alvez took the
view, which I still share, that their reaction was positive.
On the other hand Neil Haverstick suggested that
the missionary had mistaken their loud drumming for an
enthusiastic response while actually they had not
liked the sound of his piano playing and were drumming so
loudly not out of musical inspiration whetted by
the missionary's work, but rather to drown out sounds which
they were finding most disagreeable and didn't want to hear.
Judith Conrad, who wrote what seemed to be a somewhat
detailed account, indicated that it was her
assumption that the indians were trying to drown out the
awful sound of the missionary's piano playing.

My post was a pure speculation as I had not known anything
of the missionary's account before reading
her post. It could be that there are other indications in the
book of the missionary's insensitivity to how
others were reacting, etc. which would support the
interpretation that the indians really didn't appreciate
the missionary's efforts.

Judith wrote: "He would have the native singers sing him
their favorite songs, and then he would figure out how to
'harmonise them properly'". It would seem to me that this
process would have required some time
and effort on the part both of the singers and of the
missionary. Thinking about it, I would imagine that
the missionary and the singers would have spent some time
together and that the missionary would have tried
out his arrangements of their songs with the singers who
were instructing him in how the songs went. Is it not
possible that the conflicts which lay ahead had not yet grown
to the point where they would have marred their
spirit of cooperation? I could imagine the missionary's hosts
seeming to be more enthusiastic about their
mutual efforts than they actually were, and the missionary
coming away with such an impression, but their
trying to drown out sounds which they detested seems very
unlikely to me, although from this distance it's
difficult to be sure.

But supposing the harmonizing of their traditional songs
actually was something which most of them
really found delightful? It seems to me that this is possible.
Played on a piano in harmony, their songs would
in one way remain the very familiar songs which they had
liked so much, and yet there would be something radically
new about them inasmuch as they were harmonized. This is
the way I believe I might react.

Craig Grady had written: "...This music is gone for the most
part or greatly corrupted by 12 et etc."
I believe it's probable that the missionary's piano was tuned
to mean tone temperament. I have to say that I
believe music played on such a piano would have had a far
greater and more positive impact on people hearing
it for the first time than would "the same" music played on a
piano tuned to equal temperament. Many will disagree. We
can't know full details regarding the reactions of people who
lived long ago, but research into
the matter can be done. Personally, when I started hearing
music on a piano in mean tone temperament and just
intonation after having heard virtually nothing but equal
tempered piano all my life, I thought it was something
wonderful. Just hearing that kind of a piano made me feel
like getting up and starting to sing and dance. I found it hard
to believe that a piano, of all musical instruments, could
sound so beautiful. I have found quite a few who react
similarly to the way I do. Many do not. But I am not the only
one who feels that this piano sounds pretty terrific, and
maybe quite a few of those with whom the missionary worked
did, too.