Difficulty Hearing Beats While Setting Temperament

[Phil Bondi]

Robert,

I learned how to tune aurally with the aide of the SAT. It will be a 
good mentor if you let it be.

-listen to the 3rds at a very soft volume. It is human nature to want to 
play louder when you can't hear the beats. Learn this, and practice it 
always.
-When you think you're right and the SAT says you're not, challenge the 
machine by going through the aural tests(hopefully you already are). I 
was never correct in my thought of what was in tune. The machine had a 
better solution.
-Susan said move your head..couldn't agree more. It is much easier to 
hear beats if you're standing away from the piano. I know you don't have 
6'  arms, and the only other way to simulate this is to play 
softly..also, quickly stagger the notes..in other words, you want to 
hear F-A and its beats: Play the F first, and then play A. This is a 
technique where one wants to play louder than what is needed, so be 
careful. Also, this technique works best with octaves, 12ths, and double 
octaves, but is attainable in the temperament.
-All of us come across pianos that we have a harder time hearing than 
others, for whatever reason. We know they're there, so we know how to 
listen for them. Don't think that once you hear it, it will always be 
there. On some pianos, it will be as clear as day, and others you will 
have to really pay close attention to...usually, the better the piano, 
the easier it is to hear things. That is a generalization and not a rule.
-Practice
-Practice some more, and learn from your mistakes. Intentionally make a 
mistake and then let the machine tell your ear how far off you are. I 
did this with octaves..setting them too sharp - not wanting to be on the 
low side. The machine taught me how wide the window is for a particular 
piano.
-Let the machine mentor you. It is a wonderful tool for this 
excersize...been there.

-Phil Bondi(Fl)