Tone Regulating

[Gina Carter]

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Brekne <richardb@c2i.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, March 03, 2000 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: Tone Regulating was PA state convention... help
>
> Do you do this with feeling as well  ? (couldnt resist,, grin )

Apparently not as much as you. I was only responding in the vein you started
since it seemed that was how you wanted to base the discussion. Remember,
you began:

> Now I am a bit confused... grin.. whats new.. ??
>
> I had the feeling >>

Maybe you didn't really mean that feeling. :-)

Timbre for me has always been part of the tuning. Distinct from pitch and
intensity, timbre is produced through manipulation of the partials. For
example, if a 4/2 octave doesn't sound right, try a 6/3, or vise versa, or
maybe an entirely different one. The end result for me is an interval that
is musically pleasing, at least as close to that as I can get it . No big
deal, just a natural part of tuning. Is this part of voicing? Well, yes; and
well, no.

One of the ways it relates to tone regulation is tuning over the breaks.
Many times in smaller and/or less quality pianos (and sometimes in
supposedly better ones), the inharmonicity is so out of phase that each note
in that area may require a different kind of octave for the tuning to have
some resemblance of being smooth musically. Because the way I learned to
tune was by identifying and adjusting the coincident partials, this
manipulation has always seemed easy to me. In the beginning of my tuning
career, where to place each note was a conscious choice. Now it's by rote.
For example, if I'm using my Accutuner on a small spinet and the FAC tuning
doesn't sound right, or sounds harsh, or whatever, I automatically adjust
almost without thinking about it. Comes from experience doing the same thing
over and over and over, I guess. Is that voicing? Sometimes yes and
sometimes no, depending on which factors you are measuring by.

Regulating tone encompasses almost every facet of the work we do. I don't
think it is possible to isolate one single thing and say that is the sole
application of voicing. It is all interactive, relative to and dependent
upon factor after factor. Tuning is only one part of it.

If you want a neat tool to help you learn more about the coincident
partials, get one of Jim Coleman Sr.'s "Coleman Beat Locator." This simple,
little but powerful tool immediately shows where each of the coincident
partials lay. You can then play with them and know what you are manipulating
where. It's a fun and interesting way to change the timbre of that tuning.

> I have not
> had the privilege of attending any of Joe's or Fred's classes, tho I hope
to
> rectify that soon enough.

With Fred being in his mid 90's and Joe getting close to 80, I think you
probably has completely missed out on their classes. The person I know who
currently teaches "the old school of tone regulating" is Wally Brooks. His 3
part class on tone building is one of the best. I attended it several times
cause he gives way too much information for me to have absorbed in one
setting. I could attend it tomorrow and still learn something new.

Gina