You've got plenty, dude, Don't worry about it.... DA On Mar 9, 2009, at 7:49 PM, John Formsma wrote: > On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 9:13 PM, William Monroe <bill at a440piano.net> > wrote: > > I have found the practice of listening musically to be extremely > helpful in tuning. It sounds so much more pleasing and > satisfying ... musically. This is not to say that I never use my > skills of listening directly at various coincident partials. I > frequently do, and I am thankful that I spent the time in training > my ear to listen there. > > This phrasing I have difficulty with. I don't know any technicians > of value who do not listen to their tunings musically. The end-game > of all tuning is ultimately, "but, does it sound good?" Too > frequently I hear some technicians use this "listening musically" > phrasing as an excuse for poor tunings. I've had a couple in > particular suggest for example that having parallel thirds jumping > all over in an intended ET tuning is just fine, and that "I'm > listening as a technician, not a musician." Well, yeah, and > musically there are problems with this tuning. And to be clear, I > do not claim to be anything other than adequate at my tuning > skills. These are really basic errors I'm speaking of. > > To be clear, I KNOW that this is not what you are saying, but I > think the phrasing gets hijacked for lesser purposes. > > > Ah, I can see where there could be confusion here. > > In the "listening musically" above, I do not primarily refer to the > setting of an equal temperament. There is no room for error in ET. > (And I do know the difference.) > > What I mean in the above is how Virgil taught in his classes. I > won't repeat the particulars, as they've been discussed here often. > I listen musically mainly to octaves -- but also double octaves, > octave fifths (12ths), double octave-fifths (19ths), and triple > octaves. But it's mainly in the octave itself, 'cause if you tune > great octaves, everything else generally works quite well. And I > utilize tests all the time -- to prove a P12 or triple octave ... I > test what my ear is hearing. Yes, with the same tests that one uses > to verify coincident partials -- cause that's what causes the beats, > Paul <G>. > > But it's different when you're tuning unisons as you go. Much fuller > and richer ... if you do it right. And I'm not trying anymore to > listen to an isolated pair of partials -- to put 4:2 octaves in this > region, then blend to 2:1 at F6, and 6:3 octaves in the upper bass, > etc. I'm listening for the big picture, for everything I can hear > as the sounds blend together to produce that sweetest spot. I try to > take it all in, forgetting about partial pairs, and listening for > how music will sound. And if you do that, the piano tells you how > it's supposed to be tuned. > > I'm assuming David Andersen teaches the same thing as Virgil, though > I haven't yet had the opportunity to attend one of his classes. I > did observe him while he was tuning his B at Rochester. I think it's > safe to say we're on the same page. I don't have his personality or > panache, but I can still feel the vibes, brother D. <G> > > -- > JF -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090309/d605b71a/attachment.html>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC