re: Historical repertoire in 31t-ET

>Now that Fokker's organ, Catler's guitar, and the advent of
>electronics have proven the practicability of a 31-tone system, we
>have the opportunity to institute an alternative which can both
>redress the damage that has been done to the performance of 16th-18th
>century music >-snip-<

The damage done to 16-18th century music has already been redressed by the
historical music movement. I recently bought 4 CD's of keyboard music by
Froberger, Sweelinck, Gibbons, etc., and the harpsichords and organs
involved are all in beautiful meantone.

>It's terrific to think of 31t-ET, a "circulating" or modulating 1/4 comma
>meantone system, as conceivably "supplanting" 12t-ET as a "de facto" system
>for both past and future musics, but is it practical to perform historical
>repertoire on 31-tET keyboards?

Yes. I've noticed a tendency in this movement to underestimate the human's
ability to play things. The keyboard we now use may seem ideal in many
ways, and it may seem easy to justify that impression when you consider the
_amazing_ things that have been played on it, but it really isn't ideal,
and much of its design can only be attributed to historical accident or the
demands of piano mechanics. Those things are amazing _because_ they can be
played on it, and there are all sorts of amazing things waiting to be
performed on odd-looking keyboards.

>Does this involve some kind of "mapping" of pitches where only *some* of
>the 31 pitches are "mapped" onto a 12-note keyboard??... That doesn't make
>sense, though, since the "normal" 1/4 comma meantone system would already
>do that... (??)

Yup. Normal keyboards were played for hundreds of years in this way --
they still are today.

>If the keyboards are very different from 12 notes per octave, doesn't that
>jeopardize the frequency of performances... or am I getting this all wrong
>(??)

Could you clarify your question?

>Certainly people are not being asked to perform traditional composers like
>Handel on a keyboard with 31 keys... or *ARE* they?? I would expect
>resistance to such a proposal.

I would never ask anybody to perform something a certain way. But I would
have no qualms about playing Handel in 31 -- have you heard the famous
story of Handel's 14/16 note per octave meantone organs?

-Carl