Defending one's tuning

[Geoff Sykes]

Thanks to all for the conversation. A lot of good suggestions here that
prove, once again, just how valuable this forum is. Posting this question
has definitely turned this into a valuable learning experience for me.

I especially like Phil Bondi's suggestion that it could be a voicing issue.
This is a Yamaha after all, and they do tend on the hard hammer side. If the
hammers on the notes he was complaining about were too hard, or misshaped,
they could be generating objectionable partials that are louder, (to him),
than the ones we want to actually pay attention to. I will definitely try
this. 

I also really like Diane Hofstetter's observation that it could be
diplacusis. I looked it up and the description does fit the requests this
guy was making. 

This was an older gentleman, thick glasses and no hearing aids. Played
decent jazz, though not by any means a professional. Loves Oscar Peterson.
But, like I said, he acted like he could not hear me at all when I spoke
unless the two of us were looking directly at each other. I couldn't figure
how he could (sort of) hear the piano yet have to rely on lip reading to
hold a conversation. Most definitely a hearing loss on his part. And now I
have a much better idea of how to gently work with him, and others that I
will likely meet in the future, and not compromise my tuning in the process.

BTW: I, too, have difficulty holding conversations in noisy environments.
But I attribute this to my years as a recording/mastering engineer. (For the
record I did not monitor at high SPL's, and my hearing today, while not as
good as it was when I was younger, still tests exceptional.) I had trained
my ears to listen to everything for so long that now I feel out of touch if
I can't hear everything. I hate wearing headphones for exactly that reason.
I WANT to hear everything that's going on around me. If I lean forward into
conversations, and work at paying attention to what's in front of me, I do
alright. But it can be just so easy to tune out and enjoy the "noise" around
me. Sometimes it can be a lot more interesting.


-- Geoff Sykes
-- Los Angeles
-- www.ivories52.com