Trent,
Shades of Don Ellis?
Glenn,
I'm totally in favor of any sort of exercise that increases our aural awareness. I'm more interested, however, in composition that uses quarter tones as part of the language (see Maha's post. For example, please take a listen to Matt Brown's performance of 4tro Pezzi:
http://www.matthew-brown.com/Recordings.html )
Robin,
I attended a concert given by a microtonal piano duo (pianos tuned .25 tone apart) at Dartmouth a few years back. The tenor sax teacher was standing in the back with me and his comment "I don't know what the big deal is. I play with pianos that sound like this all the time" cracked me up. It's not for everybody and, if you'd like, I can send his address to you to console your wife! (I loved it, however)
Matthew,
It's time for you to start Kryl :)
Best,
EC