---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment In a message dated 8/21/2004 7:15:03 AM Pacific Standard Time, mkurta@adelphia.net writes: article in print that relates words to beat speeds, i.e. mississippi being a four beat per second indicator How fast you say Mississippi depends upon whether or not you're from Mississippi ! Words like that are useful mostly for comparing rates rather than establishing them. With a good temperament system like the contiguous thirds, there's really no reason to know how to count 7.9463 beats per second, as everything is done by comparison. An F-A third is not the same from one piano to the next anyway. For instance: Tune A4, then A3 and A2. Most people can tune a reasonably usable octave, even without tests, but there are all sorts of aural comparison tests available to tune any type of octave that seems appropriate. Tune C#3 about as fast above A3 as your watch ticks (if your watch is 4 bps like mine), or maybe barely faster. Absolute accuracy IS NOT essential at this step. Tune F3 so C#3-F3 is a little faster. F3-A3 should be faster yet. Readjust only two notes, C#3 and F3, until the speeds seem to increase evenly. Even now don't worry about the absolute. Tune C#4 and F4 as octaves. Play contiguous 3rds over the two octaves. Don't count, just listen to the speeds increase. Extending it into the second octave like this usually makes mistakes start to stick out like a sore thumb. For instance, if you got the lower C# and F just a squeak high, there will be a big jump between C#3-F3 and F3-A3. A surprising amount of refinement can be done without any counting, but NOW you can use the Mississippi/University 4:5 business I talked about in another post to get even closer. This is easiest in the lower octave where the beats are slower. I like to alternate between crude and refined tuning. Tune the octaves quickly until they sound good, then use the fine tests to nail them down, then leave them as anchors. Tune the thirds quickly, listen to what they tell you, then use finer and finer comparisons to nail them down and leave them. From this point on, you can't go very far wrong. Bob Davis ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/9f/cf/4f/98/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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