[pianotech] shorter final tuning time with pitch raises; forearm smash

[David Love]

I disagree in this sense.  Most people tune reactively.  That is, they move
the pin, hear the note, react to it being too sharp or too flat, move the
pin again, react again, until they get what they want.  They may be able to
increase their reaction time by learning to hear the slow roll earlier in
the phase but you can only improve your reaction time so much and will
ultimately be limited by that fact plus added to the minimum time that it
takes the phase to develop.  The higher level of tuning is, for lack of a
better word, anticipatory.  Those who are able to tune that way anticipate
the amount of movement required in the tuning pin by the degree and
direction of the two disparate notes, know how much the pin needs to move in
the block to achieve the required change, and can feel the amount in their
fingers when they move the pin.  How otherwise do people who do these speed
tunings accomplish that?  It's not by reacting quickly to the movement of
pitch that accompanies their pin manipulation and then correcting quickly,
it's by anticipating the amount of movement required and having the
developed the requisite skill to be able to achieve that precise amount of
movement using the feedback given to them in their fingers.  Ideally, you
don't want to have to listen for a shorter and shorter period of time
because at some point you won't be listening long enough to detect what you
need to detect.  Ideally, you want to be able to hit your target with the
least amount of movement (and correction) possible and save time that way.
This is the same as the tennis player who can only increase his reaction
time so much ultimately constrained by the physical limits of the human
body. But what they can do is improve their ability to anticipate where the
serve will go and so move to the proper spot with the proper racket
preparation in advance.

So until one changes or enhances the approach from tuning reactively to
tuning anticipatorily, there will be a limit on the speed with which they
will be able to perform an accurate and stable tuning.  

David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 10:02 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] shorter final tuning time with pitch raises;
forearm smash

On 11/5/2010 11:40 AM, David Love wrote:
> I disagree.  I think it is exactly that and I don't think it's that easy.
> If it were that easy then those who tuned pianos for 20 years would
> eventually just get it.  But many don't.

No, many don't. As is indicated by the responses gotten right here on 
this list in the last few days, it's *presumed* that you can't detect a 
slow roll in a unison without listening to the entire cycle. Left to 
themselves, as most out there are, they may very well never discover 
otherwise. Having an overlooked approach for improvement pointed out to 
them, they have to both want to improve, and be willing to try it, 
risking the beliefs they've operated on all these years. The process is 
the easy part. They already know the physical mechanics. Overcoming the 
petrified presumptions and habits is the difficult part, as the rest of 
your post noted.

So I don't think you really disagree with me at all.
Ron N