[pianotech] RPT exam?

Thomas Cole tcole at cruzio.com
Mon Dec 22 20:56:18 PST 2008


Duaine,

One of my clients tried to hear the beats of different intervals when I 
was tuning and no matter what intervals I played (some of them beat more 
loudly than others) he could not hear any beating of partials.

So I can understand what you're saying. I thought it might be that you 
don't know "where" to listen for the beats to occur. Have you tried 
ghosting? This is a technique where you open a couple of dampers, e.g. 
F3 - A3, and give a staccato blow to A5. If you listen for what happens 
after A5 has stopped sounding, you should hear a beat (approx. 7 beats 
per second in this case) at that A5 level.

Try it with different intervals and ghost at the first coincident 
partial of each interval. See if you don't hear a pulsation. The trick 
is to listen at the coincident partial level, not at the fundamental levels.

Let me know if you hear anything.

Tom Cole

Duaine & Laura Hechler wrote:
> Just to clarify, Part 1 is getting "A4" and setting the temperament.
>
> Isn't setting the temperament, using all the "note checks" ?
>
> If that's the case, then that's the part that I have trouble hearing. 
> (I even attended an aural tuning class at a convention with Jim 
> Coleman - and - just could not hear half of what he was trying to show me)
>
> With that said, then I'll never be able to pass the test - even - with 
> the aid of the ETD.



More information about the pianotech mailing list

This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC