Even as a rookie (tuner AND player), I was playing my recital and noticed one or two notes with unisons slightly out of whack... it really distracted me and I flubbed even more than just from normal stage "fright" Paul Bruesch Stillwater, MN <div>On 12/7/07, Michael Magness <<a href="mailto:IFixPianos@yahoo.com">IFixPianos@yahoo.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div> <div class="gmail_quote">On Dec 7, 2007 7:15 AM, Brian Doepke <<a href="mailto:bdoepke@verizon.net" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">bdoepke@verizon.net</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> <div vlink="purple" link="blue" lang="EN-US"> <div> Every year I listen to the original recordings for the Charlie Brown Christmas show….and every year I hear some very out of tune notes. Please allow me to finally ask this question.  Was this done on purpose?  Or was it an oversight?   Brian P. Doepke, (dep-kee) R.P.T. (Registered Piano Technician) AAA Piano Works, Inc. Piano Tuning-Repair-Purchase Consults 260.417.1298 260.432.2043     <a href="http://www.aaapianoworks.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> www.aaapianoworks.com</a>  </div></div></blockquote></div></div> <div>Hi Brian,</div> <div> </div> <div>The longer you tune the shorter the list gets of recorded music you can stand to listen to. A lot of recordings were done over and over until they got it "perfect". The problem being the more times they had to go over the piece they were banging away on those same notes mildly pounding them out of tune on each pass. Some concietious musicians or producers notice this and have a tech standing by for touch-ups, others don't and those are the ones you will find you won't be able to listen to. </div> <div>Learning to tune can enhance your enjoyment of piano music but it's a double edged sword that can also destroy that enjoyment. All of the twangs and sqwauks of a piano that was poorly prepared or was used too long in rehearsal and not retuned for the performance will become very glaring problems to your well-trained ears. I find I pick and choose my concerts according to the care the piano gets regularly and who they use as their tech. </div> <div>My wife has become so accustomed to me changing the radio station abruptly she doesn't ask why anymore, she knows now that the piano in that recording was particularly bad.</div> <div><grin></div> <div>Mike -- A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 <a href="http://www.IFixPianos.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> www.IFixPianos.com</a> email <a href="mailto:mike@ifixpianos.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">mike@ifixpianos.com</a> </div> </blockquote></div>