Aural versus ETD tuning training

[Richard Brekne]

A440A@aol.com wrote:
> 
>  Richard writes:
> 
> << Arguments like the "obscurity of our work" or that "nobody can tell the
> difference anyways" dont hold any water at all in my book. These are
> excuses at best and just plain wrong at worst.
> 
>       Gee, Richard,  plain wrong I have been, so that doesn't chagrin me
> much, but  I hate to be seen as making excuses!
>   My phrase "Obscure occupations such as ours" was used as descriptive of
> fields where there is thinly possessed knowledge.

Well Ed, I really wasnt directing this directly at the angle you took.
Yet this kind of thing has been used to make other points then the one
you were making.

> 
>     "Nobody can tell the difference, anyways" sounds like an excuse, but that
> is not exactly what I said, ie,   "the improvement I can make by ear to most
> of my machine tunings is not noticeable to anyone else, so what, me worry?"
> If I am the only person that can tell the difference, what I am spending time
> on it for,  my own entertainment? I can't afford that. 

I would say that this is where we go over the border. Number one, we
really dont know if the postulation made here is really true in the
first place. As I have said, the fact that we seldom find direct
feedback or commentary by pianists on this degree of carefullness in our
tunings does not mean the differences are not noticed in some way or
another. Fact is we dont really know this at all. Your experiences with
temperaments should show you the fraility in this thinking. My own
experiences tell me that pianists are often quite a bit more aware of
these kinds of tuning differences then we give them credit. They dont
always have a reason for expressing these, nor are they often equipped
with a terminology to express there observations clearly to us. But
aware, they are. 

> A good tuning is one
> with little wasted time in it. 

That is of course one aspect of a good tuning. But it is only one
aspect.

> I recognize a tolerance, and when within it,
> it is a moot activity to go further.  I can't afford much more moot!
>    Ulitimately, our reputation, and ability to charge, will depend on the
> cumulative effect of all those millions of decisions we make as our career
> takes shape.  Learning where not to spend time is important when learning and
> also when established.  I would like to be an idealist every time, but there
> is a point of diminishing returns for each of us.  Tuning primarily for
> professional musicians tends to keep one on their toes, but I  know better
> than to think each tuning will be museum quality.  Broadcast or recording
> quality is "good enough".

Thats not my point Ed. Of course on each and every job has its own
limitations. My point goes to the general tendancy of thinking what we
skills we presently have are all thats needed. We are all going to face
an increaseing degree of competition from several holds in the years to
come. The market will decrease, and the percentage of critical work will
increase. The more honed, refined, and understood these tuning decisions
are the better equipped one will be to meet that challange. And the more
interesting the work will become. I would contend that none of us are
even close to really mastering establishing the dialogue neccessary to
identify tuning preferences of any given pianist and executing them
despite our own preferences. Heck, only a few of us are really adept at
picking apart another tuning to see what its made of. Any stint in the
exams rooms will show you that. There is IMHO plenty of room to move
forward for one and all. And ETD's open up a huge area for such
improvement.... improvements that are quite probably much more noticeble
then we assume.

I liked your post quite a bit btw, just in case the "tone" of my last
may have conveyed something else.

Cheers

RicB



-- 
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
UiB, Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html