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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Duaine</div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">During this debate, in an attempt to validate some of your claims that aural skills are not needed to tune pianos, you've made some statements that are not true, and made some statements as fact that are mere speculations on your part. If you don't want to learn aural skills, that's fine, but don't make statements that are not true to defend your position. </div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">One statement you made was that requiring aural skills on the tuning exam is what's keeping the PTG from attracting more RPT's. Since the PTG started using ETD's in the tuning exam back in about 1980, the number of new RPT's every year has been about the same, even later on when Associates were allowed to use the ETD for the tuning exam, but were still required to tune the temperament and midsections aurally. Prior to that, RPT's had to tune the whole piano without the use of an ETD, but the requirements were not standardized. </div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Your statement "an aural tuning puts undue stress on the ears...which causes tuners to require hearing aids, "is totally unsubstantiated. Even if you change the wording, there is absolutely no proof that tuning aurally does anything to your hearing. As Susan said, the sound an aural tuning creates is the same as what an ETD tuning creates. I don't know where you got that idea, but tuning aurally doesn't do a thing to your hearing. There are other factors that create hearing problems. If you're claim is even partially true, then all piano tuners who learned to tune aurally, even those who now use an ETD, would be wearing hearing aids. When I go to a convention, although there are a few tuners with hearing aids, they are few and far between. </div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">As far as stress is concerned, again, that's pure speculation on your part. Perhaps for you, tuning aurally and listening to beats is stressful. But for the vast majority of aural tuners, tuning is actually a very enjoyable experience. Customers, traffic, certain repairs, and so forth, might be stressful, but tuning itself is not stressful. As Susan said, we don't count beats for each interval. We hear beats in a pattern, and then compare them with an interval above or below the interval. It's not as difficult as it sounds. Once you've learned to listen to the beats, they almost jump out at you, and it's very easy to tune a piano. For me, I use an ETD, as I tell my customers, to get me 95% of the way there. Then I turn off the machine, and tune the piano again, checking intervals aurally.</div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The thing is, Duaine, you're listening to beats whether you know it or not. You say you can hear when a unison is out and that you correct it by first listening to the note an octave below. First of all, when you do that, how do you tune the octave? Don't you hear the beats between the octaves and make the octave pure? While you're doing that, you might be able to hear the beats easier if you tune the note in question to the note two octaves lower. Then, when you tune the unison, don't you listen to the beats to disappear to make the unison clean? </div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">In conclusion, Duaine, if you don't want to learn aural skills, that's OK. But don't disrespect those who do have that skills, much less make totally false statements about the skill. </div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Wim</div>
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