Hi Gregor,
In essence you have it right.
If an ETD examinee tunes part two without reference to part one, it would not sound so nice. However, most examinees will simply "tune over" part one, placing the notes as they are directed by the ETD. This is not a requirement, as part one has already been scored, but is also rather easy to do in the time allowed.
Remember, the point of tuning part one aurally is to ensure that even ETD using RPT's have at least a rudimentary understanding of tuning theory and principles as well as an ability to tune aurally. Keep in mind, the examination is designed to test the abilities necessary to tune with minimum competency; it is not designed to necessarily produce a fine tuning when the exam is over.
William R. Monroe
Part 1, 2, 3? It used to be like this but changed now to that? ETD or no ETD? Folks, I am more confused than before. After reading all the answers I understand it like this:
1. Setting pitch to 440 Hz by ear, using a tuning fork, no ETD allowed
2. Tuning the middle strings from C3 to B4 by ear, no ETD allowed
3. Tuning the rest of the strip muted piano, excepted A0 to B0 and C8, ETD allowed
4. Stabilty testing only for the single strings from C3 to B4. Testing by a Jackie Chan patented Kung Fu beat :-)
5. Tuning unisons from C3 to B4, no ETD allowed
Is that correct? If so, I wonder what sense it makes to tune the rest of the piano with ETD when you first set the temperament and middle section (C3 to B4) by ear. Imagine a candidate who tuned the middle section in a poor manner and then tunes the rest by ETD. The logical consequence should be that the octaves and other intervalls are poor, too. Isn´t it? E.g the examinee tuned E4 3 cents sharp by ear and then tunes E5 with an ETD perfectly (0 cents sharp/flat). Then the octave E4-E5 is wrong but E5 should get a good score because it is exactly on zero deviation.
And what exactly is the technical part of the exam? I read that the examinee gets a bag of parts to assemble an action model. Do they start at point zero, i.e. to assemble the model completely and setting the action correctly to the key/string or is it just to insert some single parts into an uncomplete action?
I don´t plan to do the exam because I passed the German exam and the title RPT is completely unknown here in Germany. I am just curious. And because I am not a PTG member I don´t have access to the members area of the PTG website.
Gregor
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Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:30:48 -0800
From: tunerryan at yahoo.com
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] RPT exam?
In a nutshell:
You have 5 minutes to set the pitch of the center string of A4 to 440 hz. If you finish early that time is added on to the next part which is the midrange. Here you get 40 minutes (plus time left over from setting pitch, if there is any) to tune notes C3 through the top B4. The piano is muted off so you only have to deal with one string per note. After that section is scored you will have 1 hour to tune the rest of the piano except for the bottom 3 notes and the top C note. Again this is single strings only. Then the stability is tested on notes C3-B4 by delivering 3 solid test blows to each note. If a note changes by 1 cent or more after the test blows you lose points. Last is unisons. You will have 1/2 hour to tune the unisons for the midrange (again C3-B4). Each string of a unison must be within 1 cent of each other to not lose any points.
Examinees can use an ETD for part 2 but not part 1, or for unisons.
--- On Mon, 12/22/08, Gregor _ <karlkaputt at hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Gregor _ <karlkaputt at hotmail.com>
Subject: [pianotech] RPT exam?
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Date: Monday, December 22, 2008, 11:08 AM
List,
the last days there were some threads about the RPT tuning exam and the use of an ETD in that exam. Could anybody please tell me what exactly has to be done in the exam? As far I understood the postings you don´t have to do a complete tuning, is this correct? What area of the piano has to be tuned in what time? And what has to be done else? I looked at ptg..org but I couldn´t find information about the exact requirements. I read only that there is a written and a practical exam, aside of the tuning exam.
Regards
Gregor
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