AMEN, I couldn't have stated it better myself. Plus, as I was training - with the Cybertuner - my mentor kept telling me the most important thing about tuning is - stability (setting the pin, to the point it don't move after you put it somewhere) and tuning - aurally - the unisons - meaning, being able to tell when all two or three strings sound like one. So - yes - I do have and use some aural tuning skills - specifically enough to do the unisons. Duaine On 01/31/2011 02:44 PM, David Love wrote: > > I think I would put stability a shade above “musical quality” however > that’s defined. If it doesn’t stay put it doesn’t much matter what you > deliver. But that’s really a separate issue. > > The real issue to me boils down to this. I don’t think that it’s a > comparison between the tuning of a **highly skilled** aural tuner and > an end user (let’s put all the other etd benefits aside for the > moment). And It’s not necessarily about the highly skilled aural tuner > who has decided to employ the use of an etd for various reasons. The > issue, as I’ve mentioned, is for the person who is deciding how to > approach this task with respect to their customers. So, if you define > “highly skilled”, by the Virgil Smith standard (and of course there > are others who meet this standard as well), most aural tuners, > especially newer ones, are not highly skilled. Many, in fact—even > RPTs, may never be. That isn’t to say they didn’t pass the RPT test > but the skill level varies, if we’re being honest. I would guess the > average pass rate of the RPT exam is about 85% (don’t know for sure) > and there are many associate members who wouldn’t yet pass or haven’t > passed at 80%. Some of these are plying their trade as aural tuners, > or being encouraged to because of what is (erroneously) believed to be > a lack of “musical quality” of an etd tuning. But for arguments sake > let’s say that aural tuners perform on average around 85% in terms of > accuracy as measured by the RPT test. And let’s further assume that > this has to do with temperament/octave setting and that both etd and > aural tuners in this comparison tune stable and solid unisons. Using > an etd that same aural tuner can hit the target spot on as dictated by > the etd, if they were using one. So I’m a customer and my “tuner” > comes to me and says, “I can tune your piano aurally and I’m an RPT > but I usually hit the RPT standard at about 85% pass rate. If I tune > it with this etd I can hit the standard at very near 100% though the > tuning will be a computer generated tuning based on its reading of > your piano and not a custom tuning curve as I see fit. Now I prefer to > tune aurally because it gives me more personal satisfaction and a > sense of accomplishment but you’re the customer. What would you like > me to do?” Well, I can tell you what I would say as the customer. > > So the question is, what obligation do we have to our customers to > deliver the highest quality tuning we are capable of? We are, after > all, charging them good money to do a professional job. Is our first > obligation to ourselves to work in the way that gives us the most > personal satisfaction? Or is it to work in the way that delivers > consistently from the first tuning of the day to the last one the > highest quality product day in and day out, from the most god awful > spinet to the highest quality grand. If the primary obligation is to > ourselves then I say have at it however you want. However, if our > first obligation is to our customers then I think it best to > realistically and honestly assess what it is you can and do deliver > and make the appropriate choice with your customers in mind. If that > means an etd and you wish to continue to hone your aural skills to > raise them to a level that is on par I would be the first to encourage > that. But insisting on tuning aurally when you know you can deliver on > average a superior product in a different way is arguably selfish and > irresponsible. > > BTW temperament tuning was not the basis of my platform. However if > you value an accurate and equal temperament, you won’t aurally beat a > machine’s ability to divide an octave into 12 equal parts, in fact, > rarely will you equal it. > > David Love > > www.davidlovepianos.com > -- Duaine Hechler Piano, Player Piano, Pump Organ Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding Reed Organ Society Member Florissant, MO 63034 (314) 838-5587 dahechler at att.net www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com -- Home & Business user of Linux - 11 years
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