Tom and list, I too am a musician who has used an SAT to great advantage. I have = learned a lot from that little box. However I get a little nervous when = the spinning lights and not our ears become the final arbitor of what is = right. Differant spaces and situation require different stretches in = this sensitive part of the scale, and many of the decisions that have do = be made are based on factors not measured by the SAT. An example: I find that a dead note that may have a lot false beats = needs to be stretched more that one that has clear unisons and a lot of = sustain. If these notes are next to each other, and I tune them where I = feel I need to,to make them sound "correct" musically, the SAT might = interpret this intentional variance as inconsistant and "incorrect". In = a situation like this I submit that the ear must be the final judge. Aside from problems with hearing loss, it seems to me that the reason = many tuners tend to put these notes too sharp is that they may tune = exclusively melodically, without then testing harmonically as well. I = find when I tune melodically only, these notes end up about 10 cents = sharper than if I test harmonically as well. So, in a nutshell, I make = sure the note is just sharp enough to be exceptable to my musicians = ears, without the octave being wide enough to offend my tuners ears. If = I cheat, its toward the musical, because in the end I'm trying to please = the player not another technician, or an SAT. One final point. As my ears, and my perception of pitch change over = time, the SAT will make a wonderful tool to measure these changes = against. It really is a wonderful tool. John McKone, RPT St. Louis Park, Minnesota (612) 280-8375 Apologies in advance if I've reopened the stretch thread! --------------------------------- >From : Tom Cole <tcole@cruzio.com> Sent : 04/11/97 To : pianotech@byu.edu Subject: Re: Notes 85-86-87-88 When I took over the tuning duties at UCSC in 1979, I found that my = predecessor had left all of the pianos tuned 1/4 - 1/2 tone sharp in the last half octave. He = had explained that musicians liked those top notes tuned that way. Well, I'm a musician and = I thought they sounded sharp. It took me a couple of years to get this "kink" out of = each piano. Over the years, I've learned to use more aural checks and have = discovered that _I_ had been putting more stretch in those upper octaves than the checks would = indicate. And now that I'm using CyberTuner (since Sept.), I'm able to get tunings that = are very pleasing, even though I'm tuning the treble more conservatively than is my natural = tendancy. It reminds me of the story I think Norman Neblett told about when he = first tuned for Jascha Heifetz. The violinist wanted the top notes tuned a half step = sharp and Norm, not knowing quite how to make that work, offered him the wrench... "Could = you show me what you mean?" Mr. Heifetz declined but I think he made his point, that = the ear wants to hear the top notes sharper than 2:1 octaves. (Especially violinists and = sopranos.) "Tempering my wild ear with electronics" Tom -- Thomas A. Cole, RPT Santa Cruz, California
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