accu-tuner

[Rolf Von Walthausen]

  For me, the Accu-tuner is the single most important tool I have.
Without it, I would have neither the time, or perhaps more
importantly, the energy to do quality piano work.  The reason is that
the accu-tuner allows me to concentrate on the things that, in my
experience, pianists (and critical audiences) are most concerned with:
stability and voicing.  I would venture to say that during a
performance, no one (audience or performer) ever hears (or cares)
about whether the thirds or tenths are in perfect ascending/descending
order, but they WOULD (and do) hear (and object to) a unision falling
out of tune.

     Secondly, the energy, concentration, and critical listening
skills required to voice a piano is, in my opinion, better spent on
just that -- VOICING. How many times have you gone to a performancnce
where the piano is perfectly in tune, but still sounded terrible??  I
think the comment, "Gee, the piano sounded GREAT!" has more to do with
the way the instrument was voiced (leaving out, here, the variable of the
pianists' "sound"), or the fact that the unisions stayed in tune,
rather than that the piano was tuned "perfectly" "by ear".

     If you like tuning w/o an Accu-tuner, great.  But using one --
whether as an "aid" or for setting whole temperaments -- can
dramatically increase the quantity of work one can accomplish as
well as improve the overall quality.  For me, working regularly
with an Accu-tuner SHARPENS my aural skills, not the other way around.

     Rolf von Walthausen
     University of Cincinnati
     College-Conservatory of Music