<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<font size="-1"><font face="Courier New, Courier, monospace">If she's
50 years old, buy her a decent-not-fancy extension hammer, and pull it
out. <br>
I prefer a short head and a high angle. <br>
<br>
If she wants to dabble with tuning for the sheer interest, why get her
an ETD? She <br>
doesn't need to get through a work load or use speed at tuning to
support a family. <br>
If she wants interest, why delegate all the fun parts to a machine? <br>
<br>
What might be fun enough for her to keep on working would be to
understand from the inside <br>
out how a temperament works and why it has to be the way it is. I
agree, start her <br>
with unisons, and then gradually spread out from there. Once she has
spent a few <br>
hours on unisons, set her to correcting somewhat mistuned octaves
simply using her <br>
ear without tests. She might already have an excellent innate sense for
how big <br>
an octave should be. Best not to disturb that with a machine if it's
already good. <br>
<br>
After she's done "brute" octaves for a few days, show her the tenth
test, <br>
and then the internal sixth test for the bass, to check her work. And <br>
of course lay on plenty of praise when she does something well.<br>
<br>
I think that the best introduction to the temperament is to work from
simple to <br>
complex. While she's working on octaves and unisons (with an emphasis
on making <br>
the pin move only a small distance -- show her various hammer
techniques to <br>
achieve this --) you can get started with the idea of the Pythagorean
comma, <br>
by explaining that fractions based on 1/3 (like perfect fifths) and
those based <br>
on 1/2 (like octaves) can never exactly meet. i.e. 1/3 as a repeating
decimal, <br>
.333333333333 etc. And that if one tunes fifths pure all the way around
the <br>
circle, one ends up --- sharp! Pythagorean comma! It's fun to know a
fancy <br>
term. <br>
<br>
Then you could set her to tune fifths and fourths beatless, by using a
mute <br>
in the top note, so she's only got one string to tune. And then take
the <br>
mute out, to give her the sense of how far off equal temperament a <br>
beatless fifth is -- and have her notice that the fourth is further
off. <br>
<br>
And you could set her to tune the string she has just changed back to <br>
match the others, which is good practice at small motions. <br>
<br>
She could then go through a simple fifths-and-fourths sequence all
around <br>
the circle of fifths, tuning beatless, to prove the Pythagorean comma
for <br>
herself. Then through the same sequence, but guessing at the amount of <br>
shrinkage for the fifths and expansion for the fourths needed to come <br>
out even at the end. And then one can introduce the idea of splitting <br>
the error evenly twelve ways, like a family feud. Make sure nobody's <br>
unhappier than anybody else, even if no one is completely happy. <br>
<br>
Once she is pretty adept at that, she can tune a piano to sound pretty <br>
good, with a minimum of fancy tests and elaborate sequences. If she <br>
wants more, then she'd be in a position to be shown a temperament <br>
sequence which uses thirds and sixths, progressing beat rates, etc. <br>
<br>
This sequence of learning is very close to what Ted Sambell showed <br>
us at the George Brown course. It seemed an extremely <br>
elegant approach to me at the time -- and it worked. <br>
<br>
Regards, <br>
Susan Kline <br>
<br>
P.S. Advise her when practicing to use many but short sessions. The <br>
first five minutes are golden. It takes time to build up an attention <br>
span, and it's better not to let her feel bad about getting tired. <br>
Anyone would. Ten or fifteen minutes at a stretch, then do something <br>
to freshen her mind. Then another ten or fifteen minutes. It's good <br>
advice for beginning piano students as well. <br>
<br>
</font></font><br>
Tom Gorley wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:12CE4BCF-4DE0-4520-A32E-C06D62FD65A1@sonic.net"
type="cite">The 50 year old daughter of a former client wants to
dabble with piano tuning. She doesn't want to go into business, just
learn something new. She wants to get a middle-of-the-road hammer.
Does anyone have an opinion on a basic ETD for her?
<div><span class="Apple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(34, 58, 168); font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 20px;"><span
style="font-family: 'Corsiva Hebrew'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b><br>
</b></span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(34, 58, 168); font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 20px;"><span
style="font-family: 'Corsiva Hebrew'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>
</b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(34, 58, 168); font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: 20px;"><span
style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Tom Gorley</span></span>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; font-size: medium;">
<div>
<div style="">
<div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="">
<div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">
<div
style="margin: 0px; font-family: Kokonor; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><span
style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><font class="Apple-style-span"
color="#910f08">Registered Piano Technician </font></span></div>
<div
style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(62, 0, 147);"><span><b>
</b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">(650) 948-9522</span></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-weight: normal;">
<div style="">
<div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">
<div
style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: rgb(62, 0, 147);"><span
style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br>
</span></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>