---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment This is an interesting thread with some great responses. Yes, Julliard can get weekly (I thought it was daily according to an=20 article I have) tunings on teaching instruments because they have 5=20 full time technicians and 4 part timers for, what is it, 247 pianos? Some of your other responses about unisons barely moving in a teaching=20= studio with only 3 tunings a year. Well, those guys just don't know=20 what south of the Fall Line weather patterns combined with modern (low=20= budget) HVAC systems with zero humidity control will do to piano=20 tunings during the normal school year, do they Wim? I actually think=20 the old steam heat for winter, and open windows for air conditioning=20 was a more stable system. I got my daily recital tuning time moved to afternoons after my first=20 year here because of the 10 to 12 percent humidity changes that were=20 happening between 9 am and recital time making the tunings unstable. =20 My predecessor had had trouble with the vaccuming staff in the room. I=20= fixed that with the time change. And my concert tunings are MUCH more=20= stable now. No, I don't tune the recital pianos every day, but I do=20 have time in the hall every day in case I need it. It is much more=20 difficult to schedule a tuning time AFTER the recital schedule has=20 changed than it is to be the daily stronghold they have to schedule=20 around. But, that said, the tuning will move around from day to day. =20= The one thing I DO try to give our students and faculty here is the=20 best professional performance situation I can give them. So, what do I do? Well, I try to encourage my piano faculty to keep=20 their pianos watered. Some pianos are on their third tunings this=20 semester, WITH Dampp-Chaser systems. Others haven't been tuned since=20 last semester (hey, I'm not saying they're in tune - I'm saying the=20 profs ain't fussing. One professor came back after the Christmas break=20= and said, "what did you do to my pianos? they're sounding great after=20 the break!" I smiled broadly and just thought to myself, "Nothing.=20 That's just how bad your ears are.") Otherwise, it depends. I set out to keep everything here on a timely=20 schedule. But after 3 years of these roller coaster fall/winters, I=20 pretty much gave in to realize that trying to keep everything on a=20 strict schedule make no sense because Mother Nature chooses her own=20 schedule. You can create so much work by working hard. You can=20 literally work yourself to death and in a week's time the pianos can=20 STILL sound like you don't even exist. So, I'm going by the "squeaky=20 wheel" method for now. Oh, and yeah, I was an aural tuner when I came here. An ARTISTE! No longer. Mother nature will put an ARTISTE who's trying to keep=20 pianos in tune at this school in that Charter place over on the island=20= just outside Charleston. I bought an SAT III to preserve my sanity. As long as you're checking intervals behind you as you go and tuning=20 unisons aurally, you're still listening to the piano, and likely=20 getting a more stable tuning at the same time. It's amazing how your=20 stability increases when you can watch for those little lights to start=20= drifting ever so slightly with your test blows. The machine isn't a=20 crutch unless you allow it to become one. I've found it to be quite=20 the opposite, and an indispensable teaching aid. Your professors should understand that different buildings have=20 different climate control capability, and not to mention, different=20 climates will have varying levels of change. If they don't understand=20= this, make them all a copy of Walter Deptula's article from the January=20= 2000 Journal on "Deep Cycling of Humidity". That article alone can=20 answer LOTS of questions and support your position. Add in a copy of=20 that Steinway article on climate control, get you a couple of those=20 Dampp-Chaser digital hygro units and record and reset the high/low=20 every week inside a couple of their pianos and you should have some=20 pretty convincing support. Everything you give them, give a copy to=20 your supervising administrator. Your professor who claimed that tunings that lasted 8 weeks at another=20= institution might not have been realizing that she just didn't notice=20 the piano drifting ever so slowly. I can guarantee her that tunings in=20= THIS building won't last 8 weeks. I tune for a church in another town. Regardless of what I've tried to=20= tell them, they wait for the organist to tell them the piano is out of=20= tune. After all, he is on the music faculty at (another college), and=20= he has "perfect pitch". Yep. Always requires a significant pitch correction. Jeff On Saturday, February 26, 2005, at 05:07 PM, Wimblees@aol.com wrote: > There is minor argument between the piano faculty and myself as to how=20= > often their pianos should be tuned. They want to know why their pianos=20= > need tuning once a week. (and they do need it, especially during the=20= > winter). One of the professors claims that at another university she=20= > worked at, her piano lasted 8 weeks. > =A0 > How often are you guys tuning the piano faculty pianos, presuming they=20= > get played heavily about 30 hours a week? > =A0 > Wim > Willem Blees, RPT > Piano Technician > School of Music > University of Alabama ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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