Terry Riley: in a musical pitch battle
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RE you aware of this battle? About what wecall equal temperament?
You see, guitars, pianos… in fact any keyboard instrument or any instrument with fixed frets* is made so you can playit in any key without having to adjust it with each change of key. This is great. But this “equalizing” of pitches that in pure sound are not quite so equal is a compromisein any scale you play on such an instrument. Andthis compromise bugs some musicians.I now quote from Stephen Walsh’s book
Debussy:
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Painter
In
Sound: