Aural vs. electronic again

[Bill Ballard]

At 11:29 AM -0600 1/20/03, <tune4u@earthlink.net> wrote:
>What, please is meaning of "unison shimming," Comrade?

It's an aural technique for correcting intervals, using unisons. I 
described it in the PTJ sometime in the mid-90s ('93, '94? I don't 
have the CD-ROM), called "Your Friend the Unison". I recently 
described it to Phil Bondi, who wanted to tune aural P12ths without 
having to rely on a working sostenuto (or playing one of the notes 
with a big toe).

Essentially this is how it works. You want to tune C2 a 6:3 octave 
from C3. C2 is likely to be a bichord, so, one of its strings is 
muted. Or both strings can be open as long they are frozen dead 
breathless. (You know the old WW II movies: the enemy soldier holds 
the bayonet to your nostrils for two minutes and observes no 
condensation on its-cold-steel.) You play the octave and memorize the 
beat rate AT THE 6:3 coincidental partial level, as a musician would 
a tempo. If you don't know whether the octave is narrow or wide find 
out now. You then mistune the unison on C2 in the correct direction, 
duplicating the beat-rate which you just heard. This mis-tuned string 
will now be a perfect 6:3 octave (depending on the accuracy of your 
musician's sense of tempo). Tune the other string of C2 to it and you 
have now corrected the error in the original 6:3 octave.

The unison got shimmed, right?

At 3:57 PM -0800 1/20/03, Susan Kline wrote:
>Bill? I assume you mean muting the notes individually with wedges?

Are you referring simply to my choice of mute (individual wedge or 
strip), or possibly to whether I'm working with mutes on a note or 
with all strings open? Is the above a good description? Does anyone 
remember a game played by astronauts (first appearing in a sci-fi 
story 20 years ago) in which a conversation moves forward solely by 
questions? (The first person to make a statement loses.)

There's actually no limit to the number of situation in which the 
basic principle can be applied. It's great for unison tuning two 
pianos, for instance. But it's definitely an aural technique, 
although I suspect there are analogous electronic routines. As a 
by-product, it shapes your unisons right up, as any impurities in the 
unisons will cloud the required measurement of beat rates.

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"I go, two plus like, three is pretty much totally five. Whatever"
     ...........The new math
+++++++++++++++++++++