"Feelin' in Tune" (part II)

[Zen Reinhardt]

Yes indeed --

It's amazing what your bones are good for when tuning in difficult
situations.  I have found that my tuning arm resting along the stretcher is
great for picking up beatspeeds when testing bass octaves.  Before I got my
SAT I depended on this phenomenon when tuning in noisy situations
(soundchecks, between sets at outdoor festivals, and the list is long).

Anyone who has had a hearing test may remember having a speaker-like device
held onto the back of the head and being asked to listen for tones.  That's
right -- those were heard through the bones and not the ears.

ZR!  RPT
Ann Arbor  MI
diskladame@provide.net

----------
> From: cpstout <cpstout@henge.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: "Feelin' in Tune" (part II)
> Date: Friday, October 24, 1997 4:39 PM
> 
> PTG subscribers, <Pianotech.org>			10/24/97
> 
> 	"Mr. Stout, I could care less about the OCTAVES on my 
> 	piano.  Just get the FIFTHS in tune" remarked Mrs. 
> 	Johnson, pastor's wife in n.w. Kansas some thirty years
> 	ago.  Trouble is just one thing - she couldn't or didn't
> 	tell me HOW!!!
> 
> 	In passing, let me assert that undoubtedly she had one 
> 	of the best senses of hearing I have even yet encount-
> 	ered... she could 'name notes' (what I like to call what
> 	is often called 'Perfect (ugh!) Pitch';  was started on 
> 	development of 'naming notes' and 'how to hear' by her
> 	Dr. father;  was graduated with a Masters in piano per-
> 	formance and taught in a small college;  and could 
> 	actually hear the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th + partials 'come in'.
> 
> 	After playing an octave (mid-section of the piano), she
> 	showed me how to listen for all the partials sounding.
> 	After some 32 years, I can still remember her touching me
> 	on the hand when she heard them 'come in'.  Finally I could
> 	distinguish partials 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 sound but not when
> 	they become a whole step apart, i.e., 7, 8, 9, etc.  And 
> 	I have never, to this day doubted that she could discern
> 	partials even further distant from the fundamental!  All 
> 	this came with less than 18 months tuning experience, and
> 	WITHOUT the much help in tuning except a couple of PTG
> 	seminars.
> 
> 		Note-  Mrs Johnson finally took the tuning
> 		hammer and finished the 5/6 single bass strings
> 		herself!  (Yes, I got paid the going fee, even
> 		though she probably had it re-tuned shortly
> 		thereafter...)
> 
> 		Mrs Johnson was my first and, to this day, the
> 		ONLY person, privately or in tuning classes, to
> 		DEMONSTRATE how the ear hears partials sound.
> 		She pointed out that the snd partial (octave)
> 		takes the longest to 'sound' and then #'s 3, 4,
> 		5, 6, etc on higher much faster and not in
> 		rhythm on any sort.  .... hmmmm - would this be
> 		partial subject matter for a tuning class in
> 		the future???  (Probably the last few rows 
> 		couldn't hear the demo, though.)
> 
> 	Now for the "Feelin' in Tune" portion.  Both HEARING and
> 	FEELING partials are in accretion to each other!  Since I
> 	am tall (6'4"), when first tuning I found hammer technique
> 	improved by placing my knees against the underside of the
> 	keybed.  Thus 20 years later I learned that BONE TRANSMIS-
> 	SION of vibration amplifies what we hear in the ear; to-wit,
> 	Dr. Berlin's New Orleans class at the 1989 national conven-
> 	tion (see email from 10/12/97 for details).
> 
> 	Somewhere along the way I further implemented the fact that
> 	'placing the elbow - or the side of the hand holding the
> 	tuning hammer AGAINST the piano - also helped hearing the
> 	partial series, not that I would wait the three seconds or
> 	so required for ALL co-incidental partials to speak. 
> 
> 	I use, as an aid, the Saunderson Accu-Tuner (and wouldn't 
> 	be without it!) but tuned sixteen years aurally first.
> 	Piano tuning, w/electronics, uses two of our five faculity
> 	senses - sight PLUS hearing.  Contiguously, even unkowningly
> 	we all use the sense of FEEL while tuning - again bone
> 	transmission of vibration.  That makes three of the five
> 	faculity senses we are given.  (If tuning employs the
> 	other two - tasting and smelling (pun intended!) I will
> 	completely retire from tuning.  :-) 
> 
> 	In addition to using ears and eyes to tune, plus the 		
> 	afore-mentioned 'trickniques', there is still yet another 
> 	even more important 'feel'. particularly of unisons... by
> 	placing the thumb of the hand doing the actual playing of
> 	the note being tuned AGAINST the keyslip.  (If you tune
> 	right handed, it would be the LEFT thumb against the key-
> 	slip board, all the time striking the key with the MIDDLE
> 	left finger.
> 
> 		Note - It is also very helpful, after temperament
> 		of F3 to F4, to tune up to B4.  (I like to unison
> 		as I go, correcting any slippage or error before
> 		continuing.) 
> 
> 		After tuning B4, you can then tune down from F3.
> 		By actually sounding B4 BEFORE striking E3, it is
> 		very easy to both HEAR and WATCH E3 come in phase
> 		with the octave-fifth (12th) above.
> 
> 	At the risk of needing more 'Hartford fire insurance', (pun
> 	intended) for my 'flaming', I make this statement.  "It has
> 	been a long time (how long? ...probably since the Accu-Tuner)
> 	since I have depended on the OCTAVE to tune any bass note.
> 	95% of the time, I never sound a bass octave, the octave 5th
> 	is that dependable. 
> 
> 	As first mentioned, Mrs Johnson never told me HOW to tune the
> 	perfect fifths, but she knew she wanted those intervals PURE.
> 	Does any of the above comment amplify the present 'thread
> 	on PURE 5th Tuning'?  Anyway, thanks for listenin'..And may
> 	all your fifths be PURE - not liquid!!!  ...pun intended
> 
> 			Clarence (Clancy) Stout, R.P.T.
> 			35 year member, P.T.G.
> 			Nebraska Chapter
> 			Holyoke, CO  80734-1757
> 			(970) 854-3328 (calls welcome)
> 		 
> Jim - Your comments please!  and Thanks in Advance - Clancy