Unisons

[Kenneth W. Burton]

	David and all,

	I had a lady who complained that my tuning was too dull. What she
wanted were unisons which were slightly off. I gave her a choice of one,
two or three beats per second and she chose the two beats per second. I
slowed them down in the tenor section and speeded them up a bit in the
treble.
	What a strange feeling it was to tune like that! When I got
finished, she said, "It sounds worse but it's better. Do you know what I
mean?" I wasn't sure I did but she was a happy customer.
	When I played some chords on the piano it sounded strange but not
really wild. I could understand somebody preferring that sound, at least
for popular music.

	Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary Alberta

On Sat, 17 May 1997, David M. Porritt wrote:

>
> List:
>
> At times, I hear a thread about making unisons less than perfect to give
> more sustain, body, color etc.  I have been a piano tech for 24 years
> and I have never done a unison I thought was TOO clean.  I have never
> tried to make anything but as precise a unison as I could.  I have also
> never heard anyone else's unison that was too clean.
>
> Where did this idea come from?  It seems totally foreign to me.  If
> clean is good, then there is no such thing as "too clean."  Right?!?!
>
> dave
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> David M. Porritt, RPT
> Meadows School of the Arts
> Southern Methodist University
> Dallas, Texas
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>