[CAUT] Electronic Tuning Preferences

[Ed Sutton]

Someone on the Journal is.
My experience and opinions are similar to yours.
Physiologically, our brains are "visually dominant," i.e. visual information 
overrides aural information, so I have the concern that
staring at a spinning display can make us less aurally sensitive, may even 
prevent a beginner from learning exquisite aural discernment.
During his talk in Rochester, Askenfelt said "Sound is just a boring fact. 
I'm only interested in what I can photograph or measure," and later, in 
response to a question "I don't know, that's something that only you tuners 
can hear."
Could we also reach the day when tuners said "I don't know, that's something 
only the old aural tuners used to hear. I've looked at every note on your 
piano, and they all look perfect."
Besides, hearing is fun. I intend to hear as much as I can, as long as I 
can.
Ed S.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <rwest1 at unl.edu>
To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 9:20 AM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Electronic Tuning Preferences


>I wonder if anyone on the exam committee and the Journal is taking  notes 
>on this topic.  It will come up repeatedly because newbies will  always 
>wonder about the very issues that have been raised in this  thread.  An 
>article that outlines the aural/etd tuning controversy  would be a good one 
>for the Journal and should be put Chapter Toolkit  so that chapters have 
>ready access to information about some of the  issues.  It would be good 
>for Associates to have in their exam prep  materials.
>
> Secondly several years ago I made the deliberate decision to be an  aural 
> tuner just so that I wouldn't lose the aural skill that I had  worked so 
> hard to master.  For several years I went over to the "dark  side" and 
> tuned almost exclusively with the ETD.  In one of those  epiphany moments 
> that I described in my last post, I realized that  the quality of my 
> tuning wasn't up to my old aural standards.  It  wasn't a judgement 
> against the ETD; it was a realization I wasn't  paying attention to my 
> work.  As I started to wean myself away from a  heavy reliance on the ETD, 
> I realized that my aural skills had  atrophied.  So I decided that if I 
> wanted to keep my aural skills at  the highest level, I would rely on my 
> ears rather than my eyes.   Philosophically I decided that because music 
> is primarily an aural  phenomenon, access to my brain should be via the 
> ears when tuning.   My eyes are an equally valid way of accessing my brain 
> for tuning  purposes, given the accuracy of ETD's, but music is not seen, 
> but  heard.  Also maintaining a refined aural skill links me to all those 
> folks who have tuned before me, and have explored all the various 
> intellectual facets that make tuning an interesting mental as well as 
> practical pursuit.
>
> So I wouldn't call myself a hybrid tuner any more.  I use an ETD for 
> setting my A and for pitch raises.  Otherwise I gladly open myself to  the 
> satisfaction that aural tuning gives me as well as all the quirks  and 
> failures that exclusively aural tuning can engender.
>
> Richard West