<html> <head> <style> .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma } </style> </head> <body class='hmmessage'> This has been an interesting discussion for me to catch up on this morning.   Decades ago, I turned my back on Braid-White when I realized that the precision hoped for in his beat-counting method was already available in the technology I had.  Both aural checks and machines have made great strides to increase the precision available to tuners - often not emphasizing the accuracy of octaves and larger intervals.   Learning aural tuning is an honorable, satisfying skill - yet the aural skills most needed to help the ETD are the musical listening skills of the unison, octave and wider octaves.  Calligraphy skills were once necessary for the graphics professional , an honorable, satisfying skill, yet todays working graphic artists use the computer as a powerful assistant for layout design.  The time used to learn traditional aural skills can be better used to focus on tone, stability and stretch.  ETD tunings are breaking away from the crutch of aural technique - by focusing on what wetware can easily add to the process in the partnering with the machine.  No longer must a student be expected to tune hundreds, or thousands of pianos before reaching a qualitative level of tuning.    While there is a long tradition of teaching aural temperament techniques, they aren't needed for professional service.  I also realize that very few of you have reached that same conclusion. . .   :-)    I suppose there will always be those that value the process, and the personal satisfaction they get from aural tuning.    Ron Koval Concordia U. <hr />Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-get your "fix". <a href='http://www.msnmobilefix.com/Default.aspx' target='_new'>Check it out.</a></body> </html>