[CAUT] Morality and Piano Technology; was RE: Tuning--again

[Sloane, Benjamin (sloaneba)]

   Hello Fred, 

   I am baffled concerning the history of your posts directed toward me. It is difficult to consider them an objective assessment of my posts. In the immediate post I am responding to, you concluded:

"Clear, to the point writing concerning technical topics is best. A little deviation is fine. This does not describe your posts."

 What I am not understanding is the entire scope of what you declare is deviation. On April 24th, on the subject Nichtgebunden, you castigated me for discussing tuning on the CAUT list, and stated concerning some of my observations about tuning:

"I continue to be baffled concerning its [tuning] relevance to any conversation anyone has been  
having on this list, or to the interests and concerns of the people who are subscribed. Perhaps you can find another, more appropriate forum. There is a tuning forum, I think called TUNING-L, maybe in  
Yahoo groups, that might be up your alley."

   However, I remained on the CAUT list to have the opportunity to here you in the following days, e.g., on May 6th, and at other times following, garrulously proffer your own thoughts on tuning:

"I like to do a variant of this: play the octave softly, then strike the ghost tone in a staccato blow a tiny moment later. Getting the strings of the octave moving a bit to start with can make it easier to hear the partial beat. I like to accentuate a number of partial matches: with C1/C2 sounding, play C3 (4:2), G3 (6:3), C4 (8:4), E4 (10:5), G4 (12:6), A# 4 (14:7) (each of these separately).  Listen to the difference in beat rates, it will tell you a lot about the inharmonicity curves of the two notes of the octave (how they line up or don't line up), and give a good idea of where to place that octave. Slightly wide 6:3 is a good default beginning place. If going up the ladder to 8:4 or higher isn't that far away, then a wider octave might be appropriate. Doing the whole ladder is also good ear training, and tells you a lot about what the "whole sound" of the octave will be. When those beat rates vary a lot, the "whole sound" will be pretty chaotic, and you have found out why.
There is another way the term ghosting is used, and that is to accentuate test intervals. In that case, you would - to check 6:3 of C1/C2 - hold C1D#1 and strike G3, then hold D#1C2 and strike G3, and compare beat rates. Sometimes it is hard to hear the partials of the test intervals clearly, and ghosting can bring them to the fore.
A caveat: ghosting can also accentuate higher partials. The test for 6:3 can excite 12:6 as well. The test for 4:2 can excite 8:4 and 12:6. (The test note being struck has more partials than just its first partial, so it can excite the equivalents of those partials as well). So you need to be listening to beats at a specific pitch to get good information. It is also possible to use the ETD to look at the same information, setting the ETD for the partial you want to hone in on. This can be cumbersome, though, for a lot of the partials, depending on the model of ETD and what partial it is set to listen to in its tuning mode.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico"

   How is discussion of tuning a deviation for me that does not belong on this list, but for you, appropriate whenever you fancy? 
   I am not looking foward to the day when you declare the discussion of pianos on the CAUT list a deviation.

     Respectfully,
      Ben

________________________________________
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Fred Sturm [fssturm at unm.edu]
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 8:06 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Morality and Piano Technology; was RE:  Tuning--again

On Jun 22, 2009, at 1:48 PM, Sloane, Benjamin (sloaneba) wrote:

>  Hello again my positivist colleagues,
>
>   I could count, but my posts are too forgetful to bother

Yo, Mr. Ben,
        You have been given some good advice. If you want to be an active
participant in a forum like this, you need to pay attention. If you
decide to ignore the advice, well, I think you'll find that your posts
are more and more neglected, as people begin to reach instantly for
that delete button when your name appears, or add your name to a
filter for automatic deletion.
        But, hey, do what you feel the need to do. If you just love to "hear
yourself talk" (in a cyber-way), I don't guess anyone will actually
stop you. But you might as well just write your rants and forget to
hit that send button.
        Count me among those who find in your posts precious little of enough
value to bother wading through the rest of the verbiage. You do not
impress me with your ability to quote endlessly from a wide variety of
sources. Nor with your obvious lack of common courtesy towards others.
        Clear, to the point writing concerning technical topics is best. A
little deviation is fine. This does not describe your posts.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu