Accutuners

[Dennis Johnson]

        At the risk of driving this subject even further, I am compelled to
add a couple of ideas that I feel strongly about.  First, I have never met
any tuner who regularly uses the accutuner, myself included, who would not
readily admit that this tool has to some degree, made them a better tuner.
This is most likely due to a combination of many things already mentioned,
such as conserving energy and more stable pitch raises, but also as a
research tool with which we can easily measure intervals and inharmonicity.
 The point, however, is that my aural skills are not compromised by this
tool. Furthermore, I would suggest that someone without regular experience
using the tool is not really qualified to speculate what specific
consequences, if any, might result from its regular use.  Unless, of
course, there is a specific case where a concert quality tuner has suffered
detrimental consequences.
        I strongly encourage though, that the machine should be used in the
way that computers naturally excel.  You should store your own best work
for each important piano in memory.  I tend to regard using the FAC program
as a little bit lasy, because if we prefer aural tuning - than do it, but
use the computer for storing  data, which is what they do best. Then, when
you come back to that piano you can still do your final polish aurally, but
in addition there is a visual record in front of you of what you decided to
do last time.  Those of us who individually taylor varing degrees of
unequal temperaments have no choice in this, but I also store my own equal
tunings as well.  For several pianos I have many different tunings in
memory.  There is a skill to recording an accurate photograph in memory
however, which is another subject, but you will probably find that a
different tuning strategy is called for when tuning for memory and it may
require a few subsequent corrections before it is reliable. But I have
found that even my most careful recordings of the bass are not consistantly
reliable at the next visit, so I always tune the bass aurally.
        It might also help to share the difference this method has made in
the acceptance I have experienced by musicians of the accutuner.  Once I
had explained the accutuner, what it is, why I needed it, how I would use
it, and how this could increase productivity, the department was happy to
buy it for me- even after I offered to buy it myself!  As long as they
understood that I am still doing my own tunings on the pianos there has
never been any problem, and I'm sure that they would never have purchased
it for me otherwise.  It really concerns me to hear others say how cautious
they are to use an accutuner due to misunderstandings by musicians.
Granted, these misunderstandings may be rational judgements founded on some
previous experience, but who's onus is it to clear this up?  If we say
nothing than we enable ignorance.  I would never offer musical
interpretation to a pianist unless asked, and I do not expect a pianist to
tell me how to tune.  When I pull out the accutuner in front a customer
with curiously raised eyebrows, my typical response might be something
like: "I don't know how much detail you are interested in, but this is just
a another tool not unlike your computer. The computer will not make anyone
a better (or worse) writer, but given solid writing skills and an
understanding of how to properly use it, computers can make life a little
easier."  Then I usually go on to explain that I was also one of those who
in the past spoke poorly of electronic tuning tools, but today these are
sophisticated enough that any problems from their use are a fault of the
user. "Using this computer enables me to get it very close quickly so that
I can conserve my consentration to polish up the tuning aurally in the end,
which is the part I enjoy most.  This or any other electronic tuning tool
can never be a substitute for solid aural skills."  Explaining all of this
takes maybe 2-3 minutes, and is worth every second.  In fact, more than a
few have realized for the first time that perhaps there is more to tuning
than they suspected.
        Please forgive the rambling. I really did try to keep it short.



Dennis Johnson
St. Olaf College