Last night I went to the final Concert on the Square with
Hockey Girl. The theme was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and I didn’t have as
much enthusiasm about that as last week’s concert, which surprised Hockey Girl.
“I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like Beethoven!” she said, and I said, “Really?
I’ve met plenty of people who hate classical music,” so then she said, “People
with no taste, but you like some good music.” For example, we both love Bach.
It has always fascinated me that people are surprised that I would like Baroque
music but not Romantic music, when to me they are nothing alike. I am a simple
creature who likes things fast-paced and minor key, hence I love Baroque music,
salsa, and hip hop. It doesn’t seem odd to me at all; in fact, it seems
stranger to me that someone would love both Bach and Schubert than that someone
would love both Bach and Tupac. Then I told Hockey Girl about tuning systems
other than the dreaded Equal Temperament, and she was riveted. “Why have I
never heard about this before?” she wondered, and I said it blew my mind too
when I learned about it, but at least it explained some things, like why I was
so loyal to a particular recording of Vivaldi’s L’Estro Armonico that I found out years later was not in equal
temperament. It just sounded better to me than other recordings – well, of
course it did! It sounded like what Vivaldi intended. I told Hockey Girl how in
the Early Music Festival I had often noticed a magical note arising over the
others, and then I found out it was an overtone that arises when people sing or
play in perfect fourths and fifths. This, people, is what we have lost by
buying into the evil compromise of equal temperament. Citizens for a Return Of
Sanity to Sound (CROSS) would just like to remind everyone that it doesn’t have
to be this way. Educate yourselves and choose sanity in sound!
Famous Hat
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