[pianotech] Perfect Pitch / Children

[Joe And Penny Goss]

Hi Paul,
You bring up an issue that has been in my mind for a long time.
When attending conventions I always try to attend the concerts that have a piano solo performance.
There is only one tech that I know of that considers the placement of the piano in the room.
And for me it is quite evident that how the piano "shows" is being taken into consideration.
I am speaking of the techs from Kawai, Don Maninno, and I am ashamed to say I do not know his
side kick.Voice regulate and tune for the room.
Joe Goss RPT
Mother Goose Tools
imatunr at srvinet.com
www.mothergoosetools.com
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul T Williams 
  To: pianotech at ptg.org 
  Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2009 12:51 PM
  Subject: Re: [pianotech] Perfect Pitch / Children



  Same thing with me, although not a tuning thing.  Ann Shine (Shein?) was here for a guest artist recital.  We listened to the piano....she was not pleased!  I moved the piano about three inches at the front of the piano toward the seats and she says, "yes, that really sounds better now".  Go figgur.  the stage manager and I just smiled and told her, "it probably has caught the best acoustics of the room!"  She agreed...and the show went on! <G> 

  I've had other weird things come from picky players as well, including the below blog, or just pretending to move something, taking the action out and moving a couple of jacks or rep springs, or what have you, and they say.."Oh, it DOES sound better now! How you did that is amazing!!!"  Again a grin 

  Paul 



        Ryan Sowers <tunerryan at gmail.com> 
        Sent by: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org 
        03/21/2009 12:51 AM Please respond to
              pianotech at ptg.org 


       To pianotech at ptg.org  
              cc  
              Subject Re: [pianotech] Perfect Pitch / Children 

              

       



  I've wondered for quite some time about the limits of so-called perfect pitch. I've tried to research this on the internet and not gotten very far in the past. Can individuals with a high degree of this ability discriminate between 440 and 440.5? I imagine this has been researched, and it would be really interesting to know how refined this ability can be. 

  Franz Moore told a story about Horowitz complaining that the pitch of the piano was off before a concert. Franz checked it and it was dead on. Nevertheless, he pretended to tune for a half hour or so and told the Maestro to try the piano. Ah! Much better! was the reply. 

  Along the same line a tuning buddy of mine was tuning in the low bass for a music teacher who claimed to have perfect pitch. After tuning a note the teacher stopped him and said "are you sure that's correct?" My friend said "I'll move it a bit and you tell me where you think it sounds best." He put his lever on the pin and before he had even moved the pin the teacher said "There! That's it!". Of course my friend had not changed the pitch even slightly.

   There is an interesting gray area between externally perceived phenomenon and internally generated phenomenon: i.e. the imagination. 

  On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 9:44 AM, <JimWilsonian at aol.com> wrote: 
  My friend Nate has a child Noah with perfect pitch.  From the age of 6 he's been able to identify notes played on the piano -- without seeing what you're playing.  You can play any note and he'll tell you what it is without hesitation.  He's 8 now and this gift is even more refined.  When I was there 2 weeks ago, I tried it out.  I played random clusters of notes and without being able to see the keyboard he could instantly pick out each note -- even dissonant clusters. He's also becoming a really good pianist and beginning to compose. Really amazing.  Nate is an accomplished studio musician, so one assumes that genetics played a role.  ... Then you add to the mystery that Noah's twin sister Sarah, while being a promising musician, does not share the same gift.  Pretty wild, huh?

  Jim Wilson


  pianotech-request at ptg.org writes:

  "Absolute pitch (AP), or perfect pitch, is the ability to name or
  reproduce a tone without reference to an external standard".





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  -- 
  Ryan Sowers, RPT
  Puget Sound Chapter
  Olympia, WA
  www.pianova.net 
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