ETD's, calculators and the exam

[Kevin E. Ramsey RPT]

Richard,, The way the current test is set up here, is that you must be able
to tune, ( granted, it's only three octaves.) aurally the center section of
the piano. I think it's from B2 to C5. Then you're graded using fairly tight
standards as to A440, stability, etc. For all practical purposes, if you
aren't a pretty good aural tuner,,you aren't going to pass. Doesn't involve
using the machine at all.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Brekne" <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2000 1:13 AM
Subject: Re: ETD's, calculators and the exam


>
>
> "Kevin E. Ramsey RPT" wrote:
>
> >      I agree with Willem, somewhat.. The current tuning test is set up
in
> > such a way, that even if someone regularly uses an ETD to tune with,
they
> > must have a pretty good idea of how to tune aurally. I've heard "old
timers"
> > say that they want to keep their membership dues up to date, just
because
> > the exam is a lot more difficult now than it used to be.
> >     I regularly tune with an ETD, but I passed the tuning exam with an
> > average score of 98%.
> >     I really think that if someone is a good aural tuner, buying and
using a
> > SAT can really take your tuning to the next level,,,,, provided you know
> > what you're doing. I think most of the objections to ETD's on this list
are
> > to people who DON'T  know how to tune using them, and just "stopping the
> > lights". "There, it's correct, see, the lights say so."  It's that kind
of
> > behavior that gives the machines a bad name.
> >    -
>
> Yes... well... let me see... how is it that you suppose that we should be
able
> to idendify whether an examinee can do more then just stopping the lights
if the
> test requires no more of them then to do just that ? I am open enough to
using
> ETD's in a testing proceedure, but not at the cost of being able to
confirm
> aural skills.
>
> Richard Brekne
> RPT, N.P.T.F.
> Bergen, Norway
> mailto:Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no
>
>