Aaaargh was and partly still is Piano History question

[Vinny Samarco]

Hi,
I can tell you for sure as a piano pedagogy major that we were never 
taught, nor was it ever suggested that we should know anything about piano 
care and maintainance , and we hardly ever learned how the piano operated.
    All we had in our college was a tuner who didn't care much about the 
practice pianos, and didn't listen to the students when he was told how 
badly out of tune or regulation the instruments were.
Vinny Samarco

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "deanslist" <deanslist at comcast.net>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 06, 2006 4:21 AM
Subject: Re: Aaaargh was and partly still is Piano History question


HTML MessageI don't know for sure, but I'll wager that no one ever showed 
them what out of tune means. They'll notice a unison that is so bad that it 
sounds like some kind of clangy chord, but beats will go by them. That's 
because the don't know what they are and what to listen for. (I pointed that 
sound out to my voice teacher recently - it was revelation.) Octaves will go 
by them too because most of the music doesn't feature octaves without other 
notes being played at the same time. Also, probably the instruments they 
learned to play on were not well maintained. Add to that that if the whole 
instrument is relatively consistent in its flatness, they will simply have 
become accustomed to the sound. Same goes for tone. I'm new at this; most 
regulation problems come on gradually from wear and tear don they? If that 
is the case, I'll bet the answer is still that they got used to it as it 
happened and they don't know how it should be. Frustrating. I wonder if 
piano majors are taught anything about piano maintenance and care...

Sara Nash
Student tech
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Alan R. Barnard
  To: pianotech at ptg.org
  Sent: Saturday, August 05, 2006 11:30 PM
  Subject: Aaaargh was and partly still is Piano History question
  On a more serious note (F#5 I believe ... and about 12 cents flat), here's 
a question:

  Why, oh why are such a high percentage of piano teachers and church 
musicians absolutely unable to tell if a piano is in tune, much less 
distinguish any subtleties of tone or regulation? Or if they CAN tell, why 
don't they care? I go nuts and grab the old Jahn if my own piano has even 
one whiny unison. But I digress ...

  Tuned the personal piano, today, of a very nice lady who is the player for 
a Methodist church. I've been tuning for the church every six months for 
years and years now, but she has not had her personal piano tuned in who 
knows how long. It was 30 to 70 cents flat and icky.

  So why did she finally call???????

  Well, you see, they just moved the piano to their new house  .....

  Alan Barnard
  Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgh in Salem, MO
  Joshua 24:15