[CAUT] Re: Tuning, etc.

[James Ellis]

I have been reading the recent posts on "tuning" with much interest, and
they remind me of 20 years ago when the standardized test was just getting
up and running.  There were two opposing philosiphies then.  As follows:  

1. Don't tell the examinee anything, and just grade the way he/she tunes.
If you say anything, just tell him/her to tune equal temperament and "pure
octaves".

2. Tell the examinee exactly what you will be grading for, and see how well
he/she can produce it.  This was not to imply what would, or would not, be
the ideal in the real world.

Personally, I was opposed to #1 and in favor of #2.  "Pure" octaves don't
exist on real pianos.  Don Wigent was an excellent case in point.  Hi Don,
I see you on this list now.  Forgive me, but I have to tell this.  It was
at the N.C. conference - 20, more or less, years ago.  Don had just taken
the CTE test, and either failed it, or made a bad grade - I'm not sure
which.  He persuaded the committee to let him take the test over again,
saying that now that he knew what the committee wanted, he wanted to prove
that he could do it.  Well, they let hin, and he did prove it.  The first I
knew of this was when Michael Travis came and got me, and asked some of us
to listen to Don's tuning.  I did, and it was as close to perfect as I ever
heard.  It was all a matter of knowing what the objective was.

So, the test is not to test what is good, or not so good, but to see how
well a person can do a certain specified thing, and I think it does a good
job of that.  As for stability:  Yes, we must have that, but we don't need
the kind of stability that will stand up to the person who breaks strings
and jacks and tries to "kill" the piano.  The piano is a musical
instrument, not a punching bag.

There is no certain tuning that will sound good on all pianos.  The
"stretch" that is necessary for one piano will make another piano sound
wild, and the clean tuning that will sound beautiful on one will make
another sound dead.  And this puts us right back to what Don Wigent said.
It's all a matter of knowing what to apply, where to apply it, and how to
do it.

Jim Ellis