This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment >From Bod Davis, By the way, even when I tune aurally, I don't spend 15 minutes, as you suggest in a previous post, setting the A well inside half a cent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . To determine if A4 is within one cent takes 30 seconds if you use tests. I can't be sure about .5 cents unless I checked it with a machine. But then why would I be struggling with a fork? To _set_ it as close as you claim I might need 15 minutes ; ) (well what seems like 15 minutes) as I am not the best at matching the fork as I rarely hear a piano dead on. I don't know about half a cent but two cents can be heard without tests and I would not raise the piano only two cents on my own prerogative. If I raised it four cents it would be set two cents above so I can't think of an occasion to where I would set the string to .5 cents. You mention the orchestra floats but that it might could be controlled. I wonder if changes in the hall have some influence. I have always suspected that a piano floats during a performance to the tune of 2 to four cents. This notion comes from when I was asked by the Musician's Union to tune a pit piano to A441, because they said, the piano is at 440 by intermission (4 cents). There was no guess work as at that time a Korg crystal controlled needle tuner used by the orchestra also checked the piano So I suggested the piano might by it self drift this far down, and I adjusted the needle to demonstrate, but if I find the piano right on 440 I will have to raise it to here, and adjusted the needle half way between 441 and 442 because it should settle. He agreed and I suggested that if I needed to raise the piano it might need a touch up before the show and he said, "We will call". I quickly found out it showed the fork deviating from the heat of my hand. So I bought one. I was scheduled twice a week and always found the piano at 441. Which meant that the piano dropped four cents in a full house and then rose four cents in the dark. All it needed was your normal touch up which was amazing considering the use it got. (and how much the A floated) In six months I think I did one maybe two pitch raises. ---ric (the i stands for "I am stable") -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of BobDavis88@aol.com Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2004 11:59 AM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Re: Tuning with a fork......Sanderson... Ric Moody writes: If you produce a musician (oboist you say) who says their instruments get weird outside of 2 cents deviation I will take a fresh look (with them) at my premise that you completely disagree with. I know a few musicians but have never asked them if 2 cents or [] even two cycles per second is a big deal and wonder if they know the difference. As an oboist as well as piano tuner, I get a chance to monitor, on a long term basis, both the orchestra I play in and the piano out front. I will agree that the pitch of the orchestra drifts during a performance. However, I don't agree that it's acceptable, and want to do everything within my power to limit it. I think the orchestra sounds best when it adheres to a standard, whatever it is. I'll address both the piano side and the orchestra side. For at least an hour before I tune for a rehearsal or performance, I have the stage manager set the air conditioning and lights where they will be for the show. I figure they're paying me to tune at 440 (usually), so that's where I tune, to the best of my ability. If it's a few cents off, I do a pitch correction, which will bring it inside one cent, and only takes 15-20 minutes. Since this is a piano I tune often, I have a stored tuning for it, which is an aurally tweaked calculated tuning, and I listen each time to tweak it further to make up for seasonal soundboard changes. I get a chance to go back two days later to tune for the second performance, and it is rare that the change is more than a cent; and that is attributable to climate and not to piano instability (different pattern). By the way, even when I tune aurally, I don't spend 15 minutes, as you suggest in a previous post, setting the A well inside half a cent. It doesn't take but about a minute. And yes, I do use an offset for the pitch correction. Maybe it's a philosophical difference, but I don't like to float pitch for a performance. I don't think it's a practical necessity - it isn't that hard to stabilize at 440 with a quick pitch correction. You never know how pitch-sensitive the pianist will be (I am occasionally amazed), and, well, why not just do it. I make my reeds so they feel best at 440-441. The "A" I give to the orchestra is 440 exactly. I check the pitch often electronically, and it is typical for the some of the orchestra to drift upward as much as 4 Hz on a bad day (the tone starts to pull apart). I can adapt with embouchure up to about 441, maybe 442, then it becomes uncomfortable, and I usually ask to retune. When we play with the piano, we stay very close to pitch, and incidentally, sound better. Bob Davis ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/ab/38/f2/09/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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