I wrote one of my clients, known as "the pitch Nazi" throughout a couple of school districts, to ask her comments on pitch. It follows: les bartlett --- On Sun, 8/31/08, > Date: Sunday, August 31, 2008, 4:34 PM > when i was in high school, the band director tested my > tuning against his > electronic tuner (i know you know this but the science > behind tuning makes > me feel like i'm crazy). i was blind to the display; > he hid the tuner > behind his cabinet and checked every change i indicated. > Even to fine > degrees my ear agreed with his tuner - his own ear, after > years of blaring > trumpets, was no longer good for tuning. after double > checking me for a > long time, on many different days, he turned the electronic > tuner off and > did not use it again. Not a single discrepancy ever > occurred between the > electronic tuner and my ear (but why should my ear agree > with an electronic > tuner? There was no calibration). i was terribly > embarrassed and scared, > as every student in the room looked from him to me with > each note during > those unusual tests. i have absolutely no idea why he > singled me out in the > first place, except by reputation of my sister (i was just > a freshman...). > Yet from then on i tuned each instrument in the band before > concerts and > contests (standing on the podium, pointing down the row to > one student at a > time). i ponder sometimes, why or how i even managed to do > that, without an > accurate pitch given to start - but after three or four or > five trumpets > gave their individual versions of the same pitch, i just > knew which one fell > in line to my inner self. It's like the center of the > pitch sets up a > vibration through my whole body, gentle but certain. As > soon as one of them > hit exactly what felt right to me inside, i would go back > and clean up the > previous players, then continue through the trumpet section > with the > selected base pitch. moving through the whole band, at the > end the first > trumpet was checked against first clarinet, first chair > flute against > saxophone, and they always matched. But it seems like it > had to be my > arbitrary choice of the pitch i liked over the other ones - > yet, that was > the very pitch his electronic tuner chose as well. i > didn't know a thing > about tuning, or "440." i only knew the director > expected me to make the > band cohesive, as pleasing as possible to the judges. i > have wondered so > many times why 440 feels right - but it does. We must be > trained somewhere > to want that frequency. The elusive thing is, if a whole > concert performed > by virtuosos was given, with things tuned to another > frequency, everything > might match up within the ensemble, but something would > feel uncomfortably > unhappy to my inner self. Perhaps i would not be able to > identify why i was > not ecstatic with a concert over which everyone else raved. > likely i > wouldn't say anything or even know why my inner soul > felt somewhat unhappy > and disturbed. It is very much lg who hears, deeply > inside. > > i am aware of the gradual stretching in upper octaves, and > prefer it. It's > not so much that things sound "flat" to me when > there is no stretching, it's > that i just don't like the whole sound of lower vs. > upper, without some > stretch in the upper. The piano doesn't fit together > to me. i don't know > if this explanation is even feasible or rational, in your > tuning world. All > things are relative... and i know my own feelings are just > my own feelings, > nothing more. When i get to choose, a higher note needs to > be stretched a > little to compliment a lower note, otherwise the vibrations > get in the way > of each other, and the higher note has to compensate. i am > aware that i > tune a choir this way, with a tee weensy stretch in the > higher voices. They > don't know it, though, unless we get into discussion. > It's funny, after > weeks and weeks of stretching just a tiny bit, they get > used to adjusted > sound, and just do it. > > This will sound even stranger - i think one of the reasons > i dismissed so > many piano tuners is perhaps because they did not raise the > pitch to 440 > when it needed to be done (?). that is purely speculative. > but, it would > explain a lot of why a piano can be tuned yet leave me > unhappy. This is > such an inner thing, buried somewhere in subconscious, and > it might take me > days or weeks to know that i don't like the tuning. > for awhile i thought it > was me, or something degenerative with the piano... many > other things > "play" into it, of course, like my own playing, > and that takes first blame. > But as the weeks and months roll along, i just find myself > not calling that > tuner back... so we come to you, who always gives extra, > your work being the > very best. Thank you for making me happy with the sound, > making my piano > right, when others had not. What "right" is, > only you know. > > Such a long answer, i am sorry, > > > -----Original Message----- > From: leslie bartlett [mailto:lesbartlett2000 at yahoo.com] > Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2008 11:04 PM > To: vicki at dooman.net > Subject: pianotech post > > > You're the "Pitch Nazi"- what do you say > to > > this?=A0 Can you hear "stretch"= > > in octaves, and differentiate from non-stretched > > instruments?=A0 How do yo= > > u experience this, and how do you cope with it, or > whatever > > might be the ri= > > ght word?=A0 Interesting. > > lb >
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