<<...that is the piano actually sounding better when all the unisons are not quite 100% on.>> We had some discussion of this some time ago on the list. It does add to the presence (and color) of the piano if the unisons "bloom" as opposed to being still and lifeless. I have been thinking of this for the past several days. What would be an interesting experiment for CAUTs would be to gather a group of pianists--teachers and students--and experiment to determine what sound they prefer. As tuners, we should be mindful that musicians might prefer a different sound that what we as tuners prefer. E.g., as Ed Foote has pointed out, some musicians seem to prefer HTs over ET. Therefore, it behooves us to know what pianists like. The experiment could go something like this, using the same piano or different ones: 1) Have a totally beatless, dead-on unison. Compare that with unisons that have very, very slight "bloom" and larger "bloom," and even 1/2 bps unisons. Then you could apply that same theory to octaves. Play totally beatless octaves, then move to octaves whose unisons have "bloom." Then you could experiment with octave widths. If I had access to such a group of pianists, I would love to try that experiment to see what they like best. Have any of you CAUTs tried something like this? John M. Formsma Blue Mountain, MS PTG Associate, Memphis Chapter mailto:jformsma@dixie-net.com
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC