[CAUT] Grand Obsession

[Fred Sturm]

On Sep 2, 2009, at 8:33 AM, Richard Adkins wrote:

> I've read on here comments that it is just a "compressed" tuning, or  
> that "it is not stretched as much". Compressed in what way is the  
> question? Your pure double
> octaves comment seems to give me a better idea.
>
> I know finally the author got a SAT tuner programmed for every note  
> HER piano, but that wouldn't do it on another piano. I'd like to  
> hear that tuning in person. As the piano
> changes with the seasons, that "perfect" tuning might not work so  
> well. But I'd have
> to hear it to know. I'm not going to head out to Montana to find out.


	One of the things I like most about the book is the level of detail.  
In fact, she quotes Marc Wienert more than once describing the  
"Schubert concert tuning" with enough precision that we don't have to  
either guess or roll our eyes. He is very specific in saying that it  
is just a tuning he kind of thinks goes well with Schubert (hence the  
name. Equal tempered narrow would be a more precise label). That it is  
not his usual tuning. That he has experimented with a number of  
different stretch styles over the years. And that this tuning is one  
that is based on locking in clean double octaves. And is much narrower  
than most tuners tune. How many people writing a book of this sort  
would have bothered to make it that clear?
	Now there are many things about the book that are annoying. One is  
perhaps the personality of the author: I'm sure she is the epitome of  
the nightmare customer for many or most of us. But it is a very real  
portrayal: people like that exist, and we try to deal with them. It is  
a struggle to communicate, and in the end there is no completely  
satisfactory solution. And that is an aspect of our profession we have  
to live with.
	So the "Schubert" tuning "did it" for her. Okay, I guess I'll believe  
her. For me, such a tuning is maybe pretty, but makes the piano sound  
dull. Maybe if a piano is fairly bright sounding, such a tuning might  
be a good match. Something to bear in mind -  a wider tuning to make a  
dull piano bright, a narrow tuning to make a bright piano less edgy.  
Maybe that would work. Sometimes.
	In any case, there is lots of food for thought in the book, and it  
really makes plain just what a crazy bunch we are, the "piano obsessed  
collective." <G>
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu