Orlando TuneOff (fwd)

Jim Coleman, Sr. pianotoo@imap2.asu.edu
Tue, 06 Oct 1998 09:42:32 -0700 (MST)


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Hi Al and Paul:

Here is a copy of a message outlining the Orlando Tuneoff written before
the event. I think this was printed in the Convention promotional material.

Jim Coleman, Sr.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 10:42:13 -0700 (MST) 
From: Jim <pianotoo@imap2.asu.edu>
To: WWBrooks@aol.com
Subject: Orlando TuneOff 

Dear Wally:

Here is a first draft of my ideas for a Journal article. The same thing
is included as an attachment above if that is easier for you to edit.

Jim Coleman, Sr.


Convention Tuning Contest: Aural versus Electronic

On Sunday morning two titons of the tuning profession will square off
in a demonstration of their skills.  The Jan '97 cover of the PTG
Journal humourously showed these two poised, ready to take 2 paces 
forward, turn and fire their weapons.  That particular event has been
referred to by Coleman as the "Gunfight at the OK Coral" in Chicago,
or sometimes simply the Great TuneOff. 

The Tuneoff was intended to be a double blind test of the two methods
of tuning. In this case neither the judges nor the participants were
to know which method of tuning was used on each piano, so that a truly
scientific assessment could be made with no consideration as to the
personalities involved.  Unfortunately, that was not the case in
Chicago, because the two pianos which were available, had slightly 
different finishes.  During the second round of tunings, it 
was obvious that one piano had a shiny finish and the other one had a
satin finish. However, on the first round, the judges (the audience)
did not know who had tuned which piano.

In Orlando, great attention will be given to making this contest a
truly fair and objective test in addition to improving the educational
value of being able to see and hear each of these participants do their
very best tunings. After the Tunings are completed, the room will be
cleared while the pianos are moved in such a way that the judges will
not know which piano was tuned by which method.  Then the fun begins.
The audience will return and hear short identical selections being 
played on each piano. Each Judge (the audience) will mark his score 
sheet as to which piano sounds the best. The results will be posted
on the Convention bulletin board as soon as the results are tabulated.

Even though Virgil Smith and Jim Coleman are close friends, each of
them will do his best to prove his method superior.  Virgil contends
that tuning aurally gives one an advantage, in that he listens to all
components of a tone as he tunes, and can therefore make the very best
resonances in order to have perfect single, double, and triple
matching octaves.  Jim contends that it is impossible to match all
single, double, and triple octaves, but by judicious use of certain
partial matching and stretching, one can have the best compromise.

Jim says he has learned some things from Virgil's manner of tuning,
and has been able to emulate his tunings electronically.  He is still
practicing for this coming event and hopes to be able to demonstrate
a superior tuning as a result. Virgil is equally motivated to prove
the superiority of being able to hear more of the whole tone while
tuning and to utilize that information to provide a more superior
tuning since Coleman can only listen to one partial at a time with
his equipment.

In any event, Jim believes that again there will not be more than a
60-40 split in the voting preferences.  Be there, and let your vote
count at the Great TuneOff in Orlando. 

PS Jim and Virgil plan to still be friends afterwards.
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