In Memory Of John Peel

People talk about the negative effects of auto-tune on music, but I think it’s hard to actually spell out how auto-tune affects music from an aesthetic perspective.  All things considered, I think auto-tune can be used strategically at the right time and in the right way to achieve certain aesthetic qualities.  But I wanted to point out a specific way in which auto-tune detracts from the aesthetic and emotional quality of music.

As most musicians know, pianos are tuned to be relatively unbiased with regards to any particular key.  This becomes an issue, in part, due to the fact that “perfect” tuning is not technically possible.  Tuning the piano so it “works” in one key will tend to make it “not work” for another key.  So pianos are generally tuned to be slightly “imperfect” for every key, but equally so, so a pianist can play adequately in any key.  Pianos…