Just hard/easy

Greetings,
Ok, I am trying to get a grasp on how loose things are around here, so I
would like some clarification.

>>Paul wrote:

> >>the point is that you can tune JI intervals

> with extreme accuracy _without_ counting, <<

And I asked:

> Hmm, how can JI be tuned with extreme accuracy? [...]

> things get a bit difficult to discern when the beating becomes too slow to
register.

Paul answers:
>>When the beating becomes too slow to register, you've _acheived_ JI in my
book This is the kind of JI I was referring to; if you're using a different
definition of JI, yes, then JI can be "just" as hard to tune as anything.<<

Hmmm I define JI music as music that has as its characteristic the sound of
untempered intervals. However, that doesn't quite address the question, I
think.
If an interval is simply beating too slow to produce recognizable beats, it
may be narrow or wide from Just and the tuner will not know it. By itself,
this interval may do its job, but when you have an multiple intervals, is
there not some cumulative error that is allowed by such a lack of precision?
If not, then end of story, but if so, then a JI tuning is going to contain
some drift, no?
It may be ironic,that if I want a perfectly(within reason) Just interval
on a piano, I have to apply a test note, with which each of the Just
interval's notes are played , and then comparing beat rates between the two
test intervals.
Just how Just does Just mean?
Regards,
Ed Foote
(just sitting around in Gnashville)

Hi Ed Foote --

Rather than respond directly to your question, I'll refer you to the vast
quantity of posts over the last few months on the subject of defining JI
(check the archives if you missed them). I really don't want to go into that
again. Anyhow, I was referring to timbres with perfect harmonic partials,
like the human voice, bowed strings, brass, and reed instruments -- not the
piano. So I believe I've made the point I was trying to make, and don't wish
to pursue this further, knowing the infinite regress that awaits . . .

-Paul