Tune-off

[dpitsch]

The idea here is not that more variables will be thrown in, but to show how useless
the "theoretically correct" computer generated temperaments/tunings are when working
on a poorly scaled piano.  After all, most technicians do a lot of "bread & butter"
work on smaller grands and uprights.  I have never seen a tuning demonstration at a
PTG seminar on anything smaller than 7' & 9' pianos.  Wouldn't it be more helpful to
the normal tuners to see a demonstration on a spinet or console, which is what they
will work on when they get home?

I can count dozens of tuners who were told that stretch charts or FAC or whatever
would help them in their work, only to find out after spending large sums of money
that these claims just are not true.  The same goes for well known concert tuners,
and what they teach at PTG seminars.  How many times have we heard to tune FA at 7
bps?  It works fine on 9' Steinways, but fails miserably on spinets, console, and
studios.

I am quite serious about such a tune-off being very productive.  Wouldn't we all
like to learn what a fine concert tuner does when tuning a less than perfectly
scaled piano?  Wouldn't we also like to see how valid the claims for ETD are when
used in everyday application in tuning smaller grands and verticles?  In other
words, let's get the whole truth out, and dismiss the false claims.

Conrad Hoffsommer wrote:

> David,
>
> At 13:58 6/9/98 -0600, you wrote:
> >I would like to hear who well Virgil tunes a spinet, not a Steinway D.
> >To me, that is a far better test.  Any chance of another match using poorly
> >scaled pianos?
>
> Would that be called a psoff?  - Pronounce _that_ however you want to.
>
> Sounds interesting, but would you really want to find, and prep, a matched
> set of _______ spinets? [Fill in the blank with your favourite (available) pso.]
>
> Ron Nossaman opined:
> >I don't seem to read anything at all in these discussions about the aspect
> of tuning I rely on the most - minimum garbage. <snip>// aural sculpture...
> --------
> Replying to him off-list I said:
> I think what you (Ron) are saying is akin to my adherance to the law of
> diminishing returns.  Knowing when that point is reached is where the "art"
> comes in, right?  Or as I might have said in my earlier post re: Virgil -
> When it comes down to listening to a tuning/performance.  Results, not
> methods, count - if you can't tell the difference, what difference does it make?
> -------
>
> Having a psoff would only throw more uncontrollable variables into the
> tunings so that, even with well matched pso's,  you would be comparing
> apples with oranges.
>
> The only way I could currently imagine that anything meaningful would be
> obtained would be tuning the _same_ small instrument by each participant,
> record not only the tuning using multiple ETDs, but audio playing of same
> musical selection.
>
> Then compare the recordings, etc. blind audition style.
>
> My 2.5¢.
>
> Conrad
>
> Conrad Hoffsommer               Office - (319) 387-1204
> Luther College                         Music Dept Fax - (319) 387-1076
> 700 College Drive
> Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045             hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu
>
> Ignorance doesn't kill you, but it will make you sweat a lot. - Haitian proverb