ETDs/unisons/vowels

[antares]

I have learned that if you strike a note very hard, you put the 
emphasis on the higher partials. In other words : you then listen to 
the higher partials in particular and the result will be a thin, narrow 
and shrill tone.
If you strike less hard, you put the emphasis on the lower partials and 
the result is a broad, coarse grained and very rich sounding tone.

I told this once to a very well known Dutch pianist, who thought I was 
telling him a bs story.
Of course I insisted on letting him hear what I had told him, and I 
tuned two unisons for him (on his own STW D) : one unison I tuned 
striking the key very hard (the so called usual concert tuning), the 
other unison I banged less hard and the result was very clear.
He had to take back his words but found it very hard to believe 
nevertheless.

After I first learned this (in Japan, from Tsuji-san) I changed my 
technique and now try to strike less hard, but it depends on the 
tunability of the instrument : if the tuning pins are very tight, it is 
very difficult to manipulate them.

antares
the Netherlands

www.concertpianoservice.nl
www.grandpiano.nl



On 9-nov-03, at 16:14, Mark Davidson wrote:

> If, as one person put it, when tuning a unison, we are
> changing the "vowel" sound, what does this really mean?
>
> Differences between vowels are caused by different strengths
> of various partials, rather than by differences in inharmonicity.  So 
> how
> do you change the strength of a partial by making small tension
> adjustments?  The only thing I can think of is that there is a range
> of tensions where the fundamentals will stay in phase due to
> sympathetic vibrations, and within this range, other partials may
> be aligned or misaligned, and this alignment/misalignment affects the
> net strength of the partial by causing it to be reinforced or not.
>
> I have tuned unisons using ETD so that the fundamentals are well-
> matched, and the resulting sound to me is "hot" (particularly if done
> across the whole piano), like someone turned the treble knob all
> the way up, emphasizing some high partials (think tape hiss).
>
> Aurally tuned unisons do not have this characteristic.
>
> So is the well-tuned unison designed to de-emphasize particular
> partials? This would seem to be the case.
>
> Experiment: tune 2 strings with ETD so fundamentals are in
> phase.  Measure each partial (inharmonicity is as good as
> any, just need some relative pitch in cents). Retune by ear
> and remeasure.  Which partials align? Which don't?  What
> does the spectral display show for the strength of the partials
> when the strings are played together?  In particular, which
> partials decreased in strength?
>
> -Mark
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