[CAUT] tuning frequency

[Fred Sturm]

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On 2/26/05 3:07 PM, "Wimblees@aol.com" <Wimblees@aol.com> wrote:

> There is minor argument between the piano faculty and myself as to how of=
ten
> their pianos should be tuned. They want to know why their pianos need tun=
ing
> once a week. (and they do need it, especially during the winter). One of =
the
> professors claims that at another university she worked at, her piano las=
ted 8
> weeks.=20
> =20
> How often are you guys tuning the piano faculty pianos, presuming they ge=
t
> played heavily about 30 hours a week?
> =20
> Wim=20
> Willem Blees, RPT
> Piano Technician
> School of Music
> University of Alabama
>=20
    Apparently studio pianos receive weekly attention at Juilliard =AD so a
new prof here (who had been there) told me =AD wanting me to give her
instrument that kind of care (I quickly disabused her of that expectation).
Of course, weekly =B3attention=B2 is kind of like what we (or at least I) do to
the concert instruments: touch up unisons for the most part, address pitch
migration when it gets outside reasonable parameters (more than minus 1 cen=
t
or plus 2 cents for sure, often closer when dealing with some wind
instruments having concerts), and do various bits of regulation and voicing
as time permits and issues arise.
    For my part, piano professor studios get about 3 times a semester (well=
,
three times fall, twice in spring, reflecting our humidity cycles), others
more like three to four a year. Of these latter, it would be twice a year
for a number of them if we didn=B9t have a loan program. But frequency depend=
s
on HVAC/weather and my own capacity/available time. I try to keep a balance
between tuning and continual reconditioning, regulation and voicing
maintenance.=20
    I will say that I have found over the years that it pays to just do you=
r
absolute best tuning =AD most solid and =B3perfect=B2 (with concentration on
perfection of unisons) - _all_ the time. I used to do fast =B3good enough=B2
work to try to have as much of the inventory =B3in tune=B2 as much of the time
as possible. I find that if I concentrate on absolutely solid stability,
with impeccable unisons, every tuning, the results are much better and very
noticeably so. Good for one=B9s reputation among faculty, students and the
public as well. If you don=B9t have time to tune as often as needed, that=B9s
excusable. If the quality of the tuning that you do isn=B9t up to snuff,
that=B9s bad and reflects on your skill. And all it takes is one bad unison
for the entire tuning to be heard by everybody as bad.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico



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