[pianotech] Old can of worms (was Re: tunelab vs verituner)

[Susan Kline]

On 5/11/2012 12:04 AM, Duaine Hechler wrote:
> I just don't think it is necessary to drive myself totally nuts, just 
> to figure out which chord is beating faster or slower - and - counting 
> the beats !!!!! 

I REALLY should step aside for this .... but, hope springs eternal.

One does not "COUNT" the beats, except maybe as a theoretical exercise 
during the initial learning phase -- any more than a pianist "counts" 
sixty beats per minute when setting a tempo. ("45 - 46 - 47 ---- OOPS! 
Lost count and a minute isn't up yet!") A pianist has a rough idea of 
what one beat per second sounds like ("one thousand one", etc.) and that 
is plenty good enough. Musicians develop a canny sense of tempo, and 
know whether a particular piece is faster or slower than what they are 
used to. It's just a question of familiarity.

One hears the approximate speed of the beating, and then compares 
different rates. For instance, is F3-D4 just slightly faster than F3 to 
A3? In the temperament I use, the only rate which I need to have 
approximately memorized is F3-A3, and that is just a starting point. All 
the rest is done by ratios. Each piano wants a slightly different F3-A3 
and a slightly different increase going up the scale, anyhow.

I haven't "counted beats" for 32 years.

Susan (happy dinosaur) Kline
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