source file: mills2.txt Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 12:23:07 -0800 Subject: historical temperaments,modern ears From: A440A@aol.com Greetings to all the list, I have been watching this list for a while, and for a first entry here, would like to know if there are any practising tuners out there that are using non equal temperaments for modern work. After tuning in Nashville recording studios for the last 18 years, I finally convinced a studio owning friend to try a Well temperament,( Young 1799) on the piano. He heard it once, and declared that he would never go back to equal temperament. Very interesting responses. The guitar players all love the increased harmony available in the purer keys. ( actually, any key with less than 4 accidentals). There was one demo session where the singer *had* to sing in F#, and there was a lot of eyebrows raised; yes, it did sound out of tune, but the piano player was not posessed of an 18th century tonal education, so there was no question of him working within the temperament. I have found it very interesting the way different people register the difference in sound. Approx. 30% of the musicians notice the increased purity in the simpler keys, and approx. the same number notice the increased dissonance in the more tempered keys, there are some that don't notice anything until it is pointed out to them, and a very few pianists that instantly recognize the aural palette and can grasp what effect composers were, by manipulation of key character, seeking . I would really like to hear from anybody else that is currently working on a temperament crusade, I really think there is more interest in the topic than the current dialogue indicates. regards, Ed Foote Precision Piano Works Nashville, Tn. Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Fri, 1 Dec 1995 07:33 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id VAA24895; Thu, 30 Nov 1995 21:33:09 -0800 Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 21:33:09 -0800 Message-Id: <951201053027_71670.2576_HHB46-6@CompuServe.COM> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu