Visual Tuning Device as Lifesaver

[Kent Swafford]

Chris Gregg wrote:

>	Unfortunately I have to disagree on this point.  An aural tuner does not
>realize what a crutch the ETD is to a newcomer.  It may get them tuning,
>but it does not teach them how to tune aurally.  
>
>Chris
>
>>They said that an ETD could be one of the most helpful learning tools
>>available to one just starting out in this profession.

Since one of my Journal articles that is reprinted in the Tuning Exam 
source book is written on the subject of using visual tuning devices to 
learn aural tuning, I guess it should go without saying that I believe 
that VTD's are can be valuable tools for learning aural tuning. But that 
is not why I am writing.

If I may be allowed a slightly irreverent comment, I have always gotten a 
good laugh when people call an VTD a "crutch".

I don't think the crutch analogy is very apropos. To an injured person, a 
crutch can be invaluable for the simple reason that it can help him get 
where he needs to go, whereas without a crutch he wouldn't get anywhere 
by himself.

As the injury heals the crutch could become an impediment, and perhaps 
that is where the VTD as crutch comment comes in. But I for one wouldn't 
be too fast to throw away the "crutch" and here's why:

In December I was in a car wreck that injured my left hand. The injury 
left me completely unable to play an octave with my left hand, and mostly 
unable to play even a fifth. The wreck was at the end of the working day, 
and the next morning, before going to the doctor to get the treatment my 
hand needed, I tuned two pianos. This was no problem, because I am 
accustomed to using a visual tuning device. I was able to bang out test 
blows with my left hand and play intervals with two hands, and use the 
VTD to discover what needed to be fixed in the intervals that did not 
sound right as I checked the tuning.

I spent the next month in a cast while the broken bone in my thumb healed 
and never missed a tuning. I was very proud, but I sent Dean Reyburn a 
thank you note because it was RCT (could about as well have been an SAT) 
that let me continue to work.

Anyway, my point here is that it is not an entirely bad thing that 
electronic tuning devices can be used as crutches.

I do worry about what would have happened had the injury been to my right 
hand. My right hand is capable of concert level tuning hammer technique, 
but I am afraid my left hand is only capable of student level hammer 
technique. My best recommendation to all piano techs, other than to know 
how to use an VTD in case of emergency, is to also learn to tune both 
right handed and left handed. You never know...

Kent Swafford