My EPD

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

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In a message dated 12/27/00 8:06:36 AM Central Standard Time, 
pianola@online.no (Johan Ola Andersson) writes:

> My EPD (Electronic Pitchraising Device)

Thanks a lot for your support, Ola.  It is for people like you that I take 
the time and trouble to write.  It seems that those who have accused me of 
"attacking" someone in virtually every one of my posts have quite a skewed 
perception of the way things really are.  I have only responded, and with 
what I believe to be a great deal of restraint to insults, put downs, teasing 
and the like which have been directed at me.

Of course, it may be seen as the virtuous thing to do to take the abuse 
silently, without response but who ever said I was virtuous?  I'd rather 
point out the phony baloney when I see it and I've seen plenty.  Sometimes, 
absurdity is best illustrated with absurdity itself.  The person who wrote, 
"those of us who knew him and worked with him" makes a career out of wanting 
you to believe he is the greatest piano tuner to have ever lived.  He often 
quotes lofty passages from obscure sources in an attempt to make you see what 
volumes of knowledge aren't yet in your head.

I certainly don't mind if he has a contribution to make but when I see the 
baloney pop up and recognize it for what it is, I see it as fair game.  He 
has had his chance at ridiculing me right on the List by writing the usual 
thing, something that makes it sound like he knows what he's doing and 
talking about to most people perhaps but when I saw what he wrote, I could 
only think what a fool he was making of himself.  Once I pointed it out, he 
stopped the baloney until yesterday.

There is another frequent contributor who right on this List said that my 
tuning sounded like a "disaster, like a car crash or burning building".  Of 
course, he felt that he had the right to say that and that he was *correct* 
in his assessment and the other figures he drew out of thin air but offered 
as fact.  There was no criticism of him for his harsh words, of course but 
when I responded with a worthy characterization, all hell broke loose and 
accusations as far flung as racism raged on for weeks.  It's all been great 
fun.  If you upset the "pecking order" that has been established here by 
rattling the cage, the squabble and the squawking become hysterical.

Don't worry about my feelings, Ola, I enjoy reading and contributing to 
Pianotech.  There are some 366 subscribers and others who participate in 
other ways besides being direct subscribers.  Yet, how many names do you see 
that answer nearly every thread?  When I signed on the Pianotech 3 years ago, 
there was a small clique of people who virtually controlled all content.  
Most posts were worthless. 

While some of those people no longer contribute, two of them have written 
posts in the last two days that directly contradict what they are complaining 
about.  The blatant hypocrisy is downright comical.  I'd rather see some 
questions and comments from some of the other scores of people who subscribe 
but are too terrified to write anything for fear of reprisal from these few 
who think they must control all thought processes.

Having addressed that, your post about your "EPD" calls for a comment.  I see 
that it works for you and I see nothing wrong with it.  However, I can also 
see that it means that you still don't trust or have confidence in your own 
ears.  Tuning is nothing more than a process of controlling beats.  In a 
pitch raise, you have deliberately set your starting note to a calculated 
number of beats sharp to the fork.

Your EPD can serve to teach you what 30% sounds like but it is really a 
simple matter.  For every 3 beats flat, you tune one beat sharp.  When tuning 
your octaves in a pitch raise, you simply learn to tune what sound like 
"tempered" octaves.  That is, slow, controlled stretching of the octaves that 
will compensate for what George Defebaugh called the "anticipated drop".

When I read of you using the EPD, I recall watching my younger sister 
learning to ride her bicycle.  She had a set of what were called "training 
wheels" attached to the rear wheel of her bicycle that would keep her upright 
and prevent her from falling.  There was a day when my father was watching 
her ride and noticed that those training wheels never touched the ground 
anymore.  He removed them and my sister rode around freely without falling.

I am confident that you will soon learn that you don't need the visual device 
at all, that you will learn to hear pitches and beats and be able to tune 
entirely by ear.  It will be a great sense of satisfaction when you can.  
Indeed, if you are tuning a piano which is very severely off pitch, it may be 
so far off that it will not register on any visual device.  This is where you 
musical sense of pitch must take over.

Keep up the good and hard work.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin

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