[pianotech] Order of Importance in Tuning (was advertising)

Joe DeFazio defaziomusic at verizon.net
Wed Jan 26 21:45:23 MST 2011


> 
> On 1/26/2011 12:47 PM, Carl Teplitski wrote:
>> He also said
>> that unisons are most important in a good tuning, whereas" temperament"
>> is a close second.!! ??

I'd go with:

Unisons
Octaves
Double/triple octaves
Fifths (keep them reasonably close to pure at the 3:2 level, and not too noisy at 6:4 and 9:6)
Temperament
Walking tenths and seventeenths in the bass
Clear P12ths and P19ths in the high treble

Having been a former conservatory/academy/university ear training instructor for quite some years, that's the order in which I believe my fellow professional musicians are most apt to notice tuning problems or differences.  Temperament is pretty far down the list (I'm not saying that it's not important for us;  we should do a great job of setting temperament, as it makes the whole puzzle fit together well).  And, wearing my third hat, as an audio engineer, I have done a fair amount of editing of major symphony level players where a few cents off is fairly normal, and doesn't sound too bad in context.  It always helps me to feel a little more relaxed when I recall that while trying to tame an impossible false beat on a poor quality spinet.  That little shimmer juuuust might not be the end of the world.

Joe DeFazio
Pittsburgh



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