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This seems like a very rational question. If I wanted to get the most bang for my buck, wouldn't it make sense to lear te Scales for the 10 keys that 80% of the music is written in. This doesn't mean that one ignores the others ... I would just think that you could apply your knowledge a little sooner on the actual pieces if you were able to focus your technical training on the most frequent chords.
It is all about the Journey
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AMcC:
As a new member, welcome. Be aware of the dates of threads or of the most recent post in a thread; for better or not, you have just revived a four year old thread.
Regards,
BruceD
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Estonia 190
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I have often wondered, is there an 'etiquette' regarding the revival of old threads?
I ask because, on the Audacity help forums, the same few questions are asked by new users every day. "Why is there no audio being recorded? - Choose the correct input; The recording is too quiet. - Speak louder; Why is there hum in my recordings? - Stop humming; How can I filter out dog barks? - You can't."
Searching old threads would seem to be a way of answering simple questions. Instead, the moderators at Audacity patiently answer the same questions over and over every day. I applaud their dedication, or their stupidity - I'm not sure which.
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I have often wondered, is there an 'etiquette' regarding the revival of old threads?
[...] I am not aware that there is an etiquette about reviving old threads on PW. I am perhaps one of the "offenders" by pointing out old thread revivals, often just to advise new members who may not be aware that 1) the subject of the thread may already have been exhausted (on occasion the issue raised by the new poster has already been answered in the thread (did you read it all?)), 2) that many of the respondents, depending on the age of the thread, may no longer be active, and 3) that the OP to whom the response is being specifically directed is no longer contributing to the forum. There are occasions when reviving an old thread may contribute to the information contained therein, but (again, depending upon the age and the length of the thread) it may be easier to follow the argument if a new thread is started. It seems to be a compulsion on my part that I can't resist; perhaps I should exercise more self-control. After all, by pointing out the revival, am I not just adding another (pointless?) post to the old thread?  Regards,
BruceD
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Estonia 190
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I don't think there is any problem pointing out that a thread is old.
I find it disturbing upon occasion to come across an old thread where some of the contributors are no longer among the living. I value their contributions - just sad they aren't around.
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Old threads are still good threads!
Every instrument has keys that are friendly and others not so much. Experienced pianists love keys with lots of sharps or flats and don't like it when there are only a few. Strings love sharps. Wind instruments love flats.
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Old threads are still good threads!
Every instrument has keys that are friendly and others not so much. Experienced pianists love keys with lots of sharps or flats and don't like it when there are only a few. Strings love sharps. Wind instruments love flats. I play the violin and I don't "love" sharps! But you're partly right in that if I have to choose, I prefer sharps than flats on the violin. My favourite keys to play on the violin are G minor, G major, D minor, D major, A minor, F major, C major, E minor, B flat major... Basically key signatures with up to 2 sharps or flats. I hate E flat major, A flat major, E major etc. A major is not too bad. Keys with more open string notes (G, D, A, E) are better even if you don't play those notes on open strings. The sound rings/resonates better. I suppose that's one of the reasons many popular violin concertos were written in these keys.
Be yourself
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How about the most common key signatures of Chopin's 24 Preludes? Or any number of other composer's sets of 24? Yes -- like, what are the rankings for the Well Tempered Clavier?  Not to be pedantic or over-analytical or anything, but when you deconstruct these jokes, they don't quite work. So while the idea behind them is vaguely amusing (  ), there are two problems. (1) Chopin wrote 24 etudes, oh alright 27 but who's counting? Anyway, when you combine Op. 10 and 25, there are some keys missing, as we all know: D, d, f#, etc., and, obviously, some are therefore repeated: C, c, F, c#, . . . (2) Even with the Preludes and WTC, there are keys missing, e.g. Gb in both sets and Db in the WTC. Yes, I know we're talking equal temperament, but the OP is, or was, asking about "key signatures" not keys, and 6 flats is different from 6 sharps however you look at it. OK, maybe I am actually verging on the pedantic here? Chalk it up to watching too much Big Bang Theory on the telly.
SRF
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Just to continue the pedantic part, if you meant by "...we're talking about about equal temperament', that Bach wrote the WTC for Equal Temperament, that is not quite accurate. He wrote it for Well Temperament. There were, and are, lots of Well temperaments (circulating temperaments) that sound well in every key, though very different in each key. They did share enharmonicity as well. In my urtext of the WTC 1, the Eb minor fugue is also written out in D# minor. I find it sounds a little brighter in D# than in Eb. 
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Just to continue the pedantic part, if you meant by "...we're talking about about equal temperament', that Bach wrote the WTC for Equal Temperament, that is not quite accurate. He wrote it for Well Temperament. There were, and are, lots of Well temperaments (circulating temperaments) that sound well in every key, though very different in each key. They did share enharmonicity as well. In my urtext of the WTC 1, the Eb minor fugue is also written out in D# minor. I find it sounds a little brighter in D# than in Eb. Hm, that's not pedantic at all! Thank you for the insights. So in your urtext of WTC 1, the major prelude and fugue is in Eb and the minor ones are in d#? With well-tempered tuning versus equal temperament, would d# be tuned differently form eb? I'm not sure if you're implying a difference between enharmonicity and enharmonic equivalence, though I will say that to me Gb major and F# major are completely different keys and, on a modern piano, even somehow sound different. Same with d# vs. eb. Eb is one of the "soft" keys in my perceived tonal spectrum, major or minor. So you're right. D# minor really is different. Another thread, perhaps?
SRF
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I swear, I thought Joel had started this thread, but bizarrely enough it wasn't him!
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I swear, I thought Joel had started this thread, but bizarrely enough it wasn't him! +1
SRF
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Just to continue the pedantic part, if you meant by "...we're talking about about equal temperament', that Bach wrote the WTC for Equal Temperament, that is not quite accurate. He wrote it for Well Temperament. There were, and are, lots of Well temperaments (circulating temperaments) that sound well in every key, though very different in each key. They did share enharmonicity as well. In my urtext of the WTC 1, the Eb minor fugue is also written out in D# minor. I find it sounds a little brighter in D# than in Eb. Hm, that's not pedantic at all! Thank you for the insights. So in your urtext of WTC 1, the major prelude and fugue is in Eb and the minor ones are in d#? With well-tempered tuning versus equal temperament, would d# be tuned differently form eb? I'm not sure if you're implying a difference between enharmonicity and enharmonic equivalence, though I will say that to me Gb major and F# major are completely different keys and, on a modern piano, even somehow sound different. Same with d# vs. eb. Eb is one of the "soft" keys in my perceived tonal spectrum, major or minor. So you're right. D# minor really is different. Another thread, perhaps? In my urtexts of WTC 1 and WTC 2, there is only one movement written in both of its enharmonic equivalents, and that is the WTC 1 fugue in either Ebmin or D#min. Why Bach did this is a mystery to me. At the moment, I have my piano tuned in a very accurate ET, so I don't hear any difference in colour amongst the keys. When I tune Young1799 I get a very different set of key colours. In a well temperament enharmonic note names still share the same physical key in modern instruments and most instruments in Bach's day as well, though there were some instruments built with split 'sharps' to allow for the pitch differences between an F# and a Gb for example that occurred in non circulating temperaments (meantone for example). Normally one tunes by starting with C4 and tunes fiths, of varying widths (mostly narrow of pure and pure) upward and downward. That means if we choose the upward sequence C-G-D-A-E-B-F# then the other must be C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab-Db downward. Generally this means we end up with F# sharp of where Gb would be if we had continued the downward tuning sequence from Db. This illustrates the choices one makes when tuning non ETs.
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In my urtexts of WTC 1 and WTC 2, there is only one movement written in both of its enharmonic equivalents, and that is the WTC 1 fugue in either Ebmin or D#min. Why Bach did this is a mystery to me.
At the moment, I have my piano tuned in a very accurate ET, so I don't hear any difference in colour amongst the keys. When I tune Young1799 I get a very different set of key colours.
In a well temperament enharmonic note names still share the same physical key in modern instruments and most instruments in Bach's day as well, though there were some instruments built with split 'sharps' to allow for the pitch differences between an F# and a Gb for example that occurred in non circulating temperaments (meantone for example).
Normally one tunes by starting with C4 and tunes fiths, of varying widths (mostly narrow of pure and pure) upward and downward. That means if we choose the upward sequence C-G-D-A-E-B-F# then the other must be C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab-Db downward. Generally this means we end up with F# sharp of where Gb would be if we had continued the downward tuning sequence from Db. This illustrates the choices one makes when tuning non ETs. Very interesting.  I guess I kind of knew some of this subliminally but it's good to have it explained clearly in "layman's" terms that I can actually understand! Thanks!
SRF
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I have had a fascination with Unequal Temperaments for over 45 years. You might guess from my signature that I am pro-UT.
prout
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I recommend to visit somebody having a digital piano with the possibility to change temperaments. I guess all higher class Kawai, Yamaha and Roland do so. Then simply test play and compare the different moods. I, for instance, quickly changed from ET to Werkmeister (hopefully I remember this correctly, I am not at the piano right now) temperament, because I enjoy this (out of the available ones) most. I am about to purchase my first vertical piano within the next year, and already now wonder if I will find a tuner who will be able (and willing) to tune something alike for me on my vertical, then.
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Werckmeister III likely. Lovely temperament. Bach specified this on some organs built during his life. Any tuner using an ETD can easily tune this. By ear, it is also easy.
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