List, Some of you might benefit from a technique I've come up with and been using for a while. It is a sort of visualization to help me tune octaves. Sounds kinda strange to have a visualization to *hear* something, but it works well for me. I think the reason why it helps is not that I have hearing problems, but that my main problem is my focus. In other words, our ears work fine, but what you and I need for tuning is a great mental focus so that our brains can interpret and dissect what our ears bring in, and then move our hands to get the sound we want. What I've been doing when tuning octaves is to think of an isosceles triangle (with its base on the "ground"). For those not geometrically-minded, an isosceles triangle is one with two legs having the same length. The idea is to make the resultant sound of the two notes come together, up to a point, which corresponds to the very top of the triangle. Hence, you have an equal contribution from each note forming the octave. They both "agree" with each other, and both sounding together produce a "perfect" octave in which all the partials best agree. When tuning treble octaves, if your top note is too sharp, you can think of your triangle leaning to the right. When the top note is too flat, you can think of the triangle leaning to the left. To correct a bad octave, make your triangle stop leaning, and come to the "straight up" position. I still test my octaves, but find that I have to do less retuning with this technique. This has helped me, especially when I'm tired, because I tend to lose focus then. If I have trouble concentrating, then I just think of the triangle, and things come into focus again. It works well for treble and bass octaves. The triangle that I find myself visualizing has bottom angles of about 75° each. I have also found it helpful in tuning unisons. I think of a very tall isosceles triangle with 85+° angles, with a point that reaches up into infinity. That helps me get the purest unison. Hope this new angle helps your tuning, and you don't think I've been too pointed in this tip. Sorry ;-) John M. Formsma Blue Mountain, MS PTG Associate, Memphis Chapter mailto:jformsma@dixie-net.com P.S. Now for the "cutting technology" part. I bought a Wahl Custom shaver a couple of weeks ago. I'd been using a Braun shaver for years, and thought that nothing else could beat it. I've owned two since 1989, and was well pleased with both. When my last Braun bit the dust (due to my taking it apart to try to replace the battery), I purchased the Wahl Dynaflex because of hearing about it from Paul Harvey. It had a money-back guarantee, so I had nothing to lose. Folks, it really works well. Shaves as fast as or faster than my Braun, and with the Super Close foil, it gets my face so darn smooth, I could hardly believe it. Anyway, I don't usually get excited about many products, but this one works great!
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