"Tuning" CDs won't sell...

[CRANE@TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU]

Hi all!

Re: Ken Sloane's recent remarks about clients who ask how we can stand
all the noise of tuning.

This happens every so often to me as well.  I'm glad to know that I'm
not alone!  I am not, however, bothered by it in the least.  It markedly
demonstrates that what I "listen to", and what the client "listens to",
during a tuning are two very different things.  This is also illustrated
by my inability to tune really well unless others in the room remain
quiet while I proceed to make a substantial racket.

I am very quick to explain to such clients (or onlookers) that I am
concentrating on much more than is readily apparent to the average
"listener" and that I quite agree with their assessment that the
"racket" is *not* very nice to listen to.  On the other hand, the wealth
of tuning information within the "racket" so holds my attention that I
do not hear the noise itself as a whole and am usually not really aware
of it.  In fact, my concentration on "solving the puzzle" of tuning a
given instrument, and verifying the stability therein, is such that I
often am unaware of the passage of time during the process.

I know that, in many cases, it is difficult to appreciate very
much about a process unless one is directly involved in it and I
sympathize with my clients having to listen to all the "noise"
while being unable to take part in what is really going on (which,
to me, is a source of unending facination!-).


Alan Crane, RPT
Wichita State University
crane@twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu