Tuning Two Together

[Newton Hunt]

>  the Baldwin 7' was a church
> sanctuary piano, and it needed to be tuned for normal use.

It is always best to inquire about the situation after the
performance.  In the above case I would have compromised the Baldwin
up to a cent and tuned all three to the same curve.  The Balswin will
be in tune and the others will be playable, very likely far more so
than before you came.

I did a lot of two piano tuning in New York and learned a few things
the hard way.

At Rutgers all keyboard instructors had two pianos and one time I had
to do six together.  Talk about a circus!!  All major performance
venues had two pianos and were often used for concerto or two piano
work.  I love to here to pianos played together and I love four hand
music as well.  A bad tuning can ruin the music.  As I said before
unisons (two pianos together) and octaves are more important than a
perfect temperament on both.  _We_ can hear the difference _IF_ we
analyze the tunings on the stage but from the audience there is likely
only one tune in a hundred that could.  COnsider how many in the
audience could discern a slightly off temperament and an excessive
stretch on one piano.

Individual perfection is less the issue than sounding good together.

		Newton