Dem earsl versus ETD

[antares]

Dear colleagues,

I find this discussion about aural versus ETD tuning highly interesting.
Some of you are very well spoken about the subject and highly educated.
I have no such education as I was forced to leave high school at a very
early age.
The piano tech school in Amsterdam was, at the time, a joke, so my piano-
tuning education was very limited and only later was I able to catch up, but
only in practice and not theoretically.
For that reason I shall certainly not take part in the theoretical side of
this issue.
What I can say however is that I have tuned both aurally and with several
ETD's for a very long time and have also submitted myself to countless
tuning tests to learn how to get the best tuning result aurally (Yamaha
concert grand course). So I should be able to have a opinion, at least in
regard to the practical side.
To me it seems wise, for a beginner, to first learn to tune aurally. Why?
Well, to get a firm basis for understanding intervals, counting beats,
tuning pin practice and the long struggle to get a 'decent' tuning result.
For a long time it was common knowledge in Holland that most skippers of
river barges did not know how to swim, which always struck me as weird and
unpractical when you spend all your life and earn your money on the water.
Another example is the pool life guard who can not swim.
Also, it could be handy for an ETD tuner to finish the job when his machine
failed him for whatever reason and... I personally know a number of
Americans who don't know how to drive a European car with manual gear
shifting  (:>))......

The funny thing is, that I myself started to use an ETD at the height of my
aural tuning capacities. At the Academy in Japan they drove us like slaves
in order to get the highest results and at a certain moment I realized that
it was almost unreachable.  One could compare it with a highly skilled
trapeze acrobat at the circus who, performance after performance, hones his
skills and at the same plays with her/his life.
It got to me too..I got stressed, irritable, tired, exhausted, could not
sleep anymore and at the same time was driven to the edge, day after hot
day. So, I was lucky, on the final exam day I made this perfect tuning and I
got my certificate and it took me a long time to unwind and get better,
physically and mentally.
Back home I noticed, after some time had gone by, that I had passed a
barrier. Tuning lousy instruments was a piece of cake and beautiful concert
instruments gave me less mental stress.

And then I got my first ETD  (;

So, years have gone by, and I now know something about ETD's too.
The very best one I have ever worked with so far is the Verituner. I
strongly doubt that the result could be better in the years to come. Already
this ETD gives such a beautifully balanced tuning that I seriously wonder
whether an improvement is even possible.
I also know that this very same result can also be achieved with dem ears,
no doubt about that.
For that reason I am not an advocate for either.
The choice is purely personal and for both are sound reasons to make a
well-considered choice.

Then what is the difference?
The difference may lie in laziness, or lack of energy. It costs more energy
to make this 'perfect' aural tuning and it also costs more time.
My VT takes care of both and enables me to spend extra energy and time on
'tone' tuning, i.e. getting the maximum out of the unisons.
In both cases, aural and ETD, the result may be stunning, but the
time/energy factor can hardly be denied and don't forget that all employed
tuners here in Holland are obliged to do 6 tunings a day (according to the
agreements between the employers and the unions).
6 tuning a day including travel time.
I have done this for many years and those were my toughest years and they
gave me speed tuning, experience, knowledge of a wide variety of piano makes
but also boredom, fatigue, stress and serious physical complaints, the more
so as I am an older tuner, and in 'them olden days' a tuner had to tune 7
piano's a day (and before 'them olden days' even more on the Saturday).

Under those circumstances I would say : for heavens sake! give the poor
sucker a machine!

And as for training a student I think the use of both (aural and ETD) might
be useful and even enlightening as the ETD is more than punctual and a very
efficient tutor.

my euro cents....

friendly greetings
from

Antares,

Amsterdam, Holland

"where music is, no harm can be"

visit my website at :  http://www.concertpianoservice.nl/
and the website of :  http://www.grandpiano.nl