<HEAD> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1479" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>For aural tuning (which you should learn and MUST learn to become an RPT) you absolutely MUST be able to discern those beat rates, especially 7bps. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>8bps is pretty easy if you've ever played in a marching band. Think Sousa. The very common march tempo of mm=120 will let you count 4 beats per metronome tick, which is 8bps, and it's easy to get that rate into your noodle storage space. That helps because, guess what, 7 bps is a little slower and 9 bps is a little faster!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>It isn't that hard, it just takes practice. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Email me privately and I'll send you some mp3 files that will help. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Do you have Reblitz' book? The tuning section as information on using a metronome to train on beats. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>A watch or clock with a seconds indicator can be used for training. There are also little phrases you can say. For example, 7bps can be approximated by saying "From Chicago to Detroit" repeatedly, while staring at the watch or clock and fitting the phrase exactly into one-second spaces. Or you can say "Gina Lollabridgida," which is more fun. Once you have the phrase fitting the clock, change to saying "da da da da da da da," fitting 7 into a second but not stopping or changing the pace. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Try tapping your finger on a hard surface at this rate. When you can keep that exact rate going, stop looking at the clock and think of the taps or "da da's" in groups of four beats. Some use four-syllable words that seem to 'tap' out these four tap rates as you say them over and over, like "MinitakaMinitakaMinitakaMinitakaMinitaka."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>People in your chapter can give you pointers and "tools" to use for this.<BR><BR>-----Original Message----- <BR>From: Robert Finley <RFINLEY@RCN.COM><BR>Sent: Mar 11, 2005 9:04 PM <BR>To: pianotech@ptg.org <BR>Subject: Question about Beats During Tuning <BR><BR></DIV><ZZZHTML><ZZZHEAD><ZZZMETA content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"><ZZZMETA content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2604" name="GENERATOR"> <STYLE></STYLE> </ZZZHEAD><ZZZBODY bgColor="#ffffff"> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have just started to study piano technology with a correspondence course, and one of the text books suggests that it is necessary to recognize beat rates of 7, 8 and 9 beats per second in order to tune certain intervals such as 3rds and  6ths. To me this seems extremely subtle, and I am wondering whether most people can tell these beat rates apart just by listening? At the moment I am having difficulty even hearing the beats in the first place, and was wondering if anyone can suggest how they can be made to be more pronounced and easily heard? </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't have much problem with unisons. I can hear the beat rate slow down when the frequency of one string gets closer to the other, and then the quality suddenly improves (probably by sympathetic vibration?) when I get a good unison. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Does one's ability to hear beats and to determine their speed improve with experience? Thank you for your advice. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Robert Finley</FONT></DIV></ZZZBODY></ZZZHTML></BODY>