[CAUT] Barbie tuner, 106 trumps Accutuner

[Kendall Ross Bean]

Jim, Jim~
 
When will you learn? ;-)
 
All you have to do is tune one measly piano, -and you can take a couple of
hours (or more) to do it.
 
This poor oboe player has to tune 106 different musicians, all with
different instruments, all at the same time. And he has approximately 30
seconds to do it (if that).
 
And you can bet every one of those 106 musicians is going to be razzing him,
at some point, about his pitch being off.
 
Providing a perfect A440 is his job description. -Look how many folks are
depending on him. -Sure he takes it seriously. If he doesn't he may lose his
job. (And most oboeists are "Aural" tuners - they know nothing about ETD's
or Accutuners!)  Ever wonder how oboe players get their pitch? -These
"barbie tuners" are a relatively recent innovation. What did oboeists do
before that, ever wonder? Do they have...  Perfect Pitch...  uh oh, don't go
there....
 
(Most of your pianists don't even know when their piano is off-pitch. They
couldn't do anything about it anyway, even if they wanted to (except to call
you!) But instrumentalists, they have to be really concerned with
intonation, it's a major issue for them.) 
 
(That trumps your Accutuner. -Any day of the week. Did you know that when a
pianist performs a piano concerto with an orchestra, the orchestral
musicians-- --reluctantly-- --grudgingly-- --have to adapt/bend their usual
intonation to accomodate the equally tempered piano? No wonder the oboist
gets upset! And a lot of other musicians as well!)
 
You don't tune a piano differently when you know it is going to be used with
an orchestra, do you.  -No, I didn't think so. Pianists, and piano tuners,
can be so oblivious...  ;-)
 
Have some compassion for the guy. This is obviously a major stressor for
him.
 
;-) 
 
~Kendall Ross Bean
Piano&OboeFinders
-Connecting pianos and oboes

  _____  

From: Jim Busby [mailto:jim_busby at byu.edu] 
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 2:34 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: [CAUT] Barbie tuner



List,

 

I won't name the fellow, but at the International Double Reed Society
conference here at BYU there is this "oboist" who is running around with
this tiny guitar tuner complaining that all the instruments are off. He
confronted me before one of his performances saying that the pitch of the
Shigeru was not A440 but was A442. He said the Hamburg D was also A442 (Was
supposed to be at A443). I told him I was confident the pitch was where it
was supposed to be on both instruments and that maybe his small tuner was
off. BAD thing to say! Boy was he mad! After his performance, when most the
people were gone, the head honcho watched me measure the pianos. Less than
4/10ths of one cent off. (Dang! Will I ever learn to keep my pitch dead on?)

 

Funny, but almost all his high notes were extremely flat. Or maybe I'm just
dreaming.

 

Jim Busby

 

p.s. Other than this unfortunate experience everyone else is very nice and
complimentary. 

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