Ears vs machines (Was Tuning forks)

[Doug Hershberger]

Kent,
   Thank you for explaining this.In my own case I feel that using the
machine has hurt my ability to tune aurally even though I don't use it all
the time. I am not involved with the test but I have helped out a time or
two. It was very rewarding and I learned alot.
Doug Hershberger,RPT
----- Original Message -----
From: Kent Swafford <kswafford@earthlink.net>
To: pianotech list <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 1999 9:06 AM
Subject: Re: Ears vs machines (Was Tuning forks)


> Doug  Hershberger wrote:
>
> >   This brings me to another thought I had. During the supertuning of the
> >exam piano there is suppose to be at least three people doing it. At
least
> >one CTE and two RPT's. I think this is the way it is set-up and I am sure
> >someone will correct me if I'm wrong. If this is true, then I also
wonder,
> >if two of those examiners use ETD's and there is one aural tuner and he
or
> >she disputes some aspect of the tuning I doubt that the two people using
> >ETD's are going to be the ones outvoted about said disputed note.
>
> All CTE's have passed the exam at 90 or above on all sections tuning
> strictly aurally.
>
> The rules governing master tunings are explicit; the ears rule, and VTD's
> may not be used as the final arbiter. VTD's are used during master
> tunings for the preliminary tuning, and to record alternate pitch levels
> for given notes of the tuning. That is, if there are differences of
> opinion about how a given note is to be tuned, each person is given the
> opportunity to tune the note, and the VTD is used to record the tuning so
> it can be restored if necessary once the ideal tuning for the note has
> been agreed upon. In the even that the three tuners cannot agree upon the
> proper tuning of a given note, the rules say that the VTD readings for
> the different tunings are to be averaged; I personally have never seen
> this happen.
>
> Kent