Notes 85-86-87-88.ab

[KUANG]

Hi Sam, Bill and list:

	Someone ealier has said that Heifetz liked to have his piano
tuned sharper in the treble section.  If you listen to his recording
carefully, you'll find some of his high notes are very sharp except when
he was playing harmonics of a string (e.g. on a piano, if you press
_lightly_ right at the middle of the string and you strike the note, then
the two divited section will vibrate and produce the first harmonic (or
is it second harmonic?  I'm not sure what term is used)).  Some of the
notes sounded almost 100 cents sharp to me (I don't have a SAT to verify
this).  Of course Heifetz was not the only one who played sharp, in fact,
alot of famous violinists played sharp.  Believe or not, virtually every
violinists have the tendency to play way too harp :)  I think Heifetz
played significantly sharper than other violinists, maybe this was a
secret of his?
	I think there are few reasons why human ears like sharper high notes:
1. Limit of human ears - I think our ears' upper limit is about 12,000 Hz
(I'm probably wrong), beyond that, no one can hear it.  Only electronic
instruments can (and some animals) recognize and analyze those frequencies
(a "super" accutuner might come handy for this purpose).
The higher the frequency, the harder it is to distinguish the notes.  As
a result, the pitch of the, say, note #87 must be more than 100 cents
sharper compared to note #86 in order to convince human ear that note #87
is half step higher than #86.  This is probably the same with very low
notes.  Sometimes I tend to think those those very low note on a
Boesendorfer Imperial are sharp (especially when I play them in half steps).
Also, the hearing ability seems to diminish when someone get older.
	In general, children and women have more sensitive ears to higher
frequencies.  Female tuners can probably tune very high notes more
accurately than men (well, at least less "sharp" high notes).  Can some
female tuners on this list share their experiences?  Has anyone ever
complain about your high notes being "flat"?

2. I'm not sure about this one though - The high harmonics of bass strings
- Aren't higher harmonics of a thick string (say, 6th or 5th harmonic)
very sharp because of the string's thickness?  The stretching might
balance out 2nd and 3rd harmonic but even pure 2:1 pure octaves might not
balance out 5th or 6th harmonic of lower notes.  If so, the thicker the
bass strings, the sharper you have to tune those very high notes.  But
someone can always argue that the 5th or 6th harmonic can't be heard and
thus has no effect on treble notes.

On Sat, 12 Apr 1997 Maxpiano@aol.com wrote:

> Sam and List -
>
> I occasionally find the last five or six notes gone sharp when I come to a
> piano I have been tuning regularly for maybe ten or fifteen years.  I KNOW I
> did not tune them that way.  And I've observed that neglected pianos seem to
> drop more in the treble than elsewhere.  What causes going sharp in pianos
> regularly tuned and not stretched beyond the amount a 2:1 octave indicates?
>  Does it have anything to do with closeness to the end of the bridge/end of
> the soundboard?  Maybe Sam Grossner has a point:
>
> In a message dated 97-04-12 14:33:25 EDT, you write:
>
> << Another factor
>  could be atmospheric shift of the bridges via the soundboard. The shorter
> the
>  string, the more a shift in the bridge will effect it, being a great
>  proportion of its speaking length.  >>
>
> Bill Maxim, RPT
>