Soft blows (was How we hear) or hard blows.

[jason kanter]

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OK, after Andre's reply my question still remains.
Suppose I (first) play even, soft-though-firm, blows, say three or four of
them while tuning one of the strings of the unison and listening with the
core of my being. Then (second), to settle the pin, I strike a very hard
staccato blow but I do not "listen" to it -- its function is purely to
equalize tension across the friction points and to zero out any torque of
the tuning pin. Finally (third), I play soft/firm again and listen to the
resulting unison. If it is not satisfactory, I repeat the three steps,
otherwise I go on to the next string.

Does step 2 -- the very hard staccato blow -- damage the beauty of the
unison? Is this a bad habit that should not be taught to new tuners?

Maybe the very hard staccato blow is only necessary when the string has been
moved more than a very little bit?
  -----Original Message-----
  From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
Behalf Of antares
  Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 10:37 AM
  To: Pianotech
  Subject: Re: Soft blows (was How we hear) or hard blows.


  Just a few things here :
  First of all, I tried to tell here that when we strike a note very hard,
the emphasis lies on the higher partials. I have tried this out on my ETD
partial analysis, and indeed it shows that the higher partials are more
present with this hard blow.
  This causes us to listen to strings in a different way and the result we
may find in the unisons : hitting the strings with a not so hard blow will
result in a more coarse, more rich sound.
  Hitting the strings very hard will result in a unison which sounds thin,
rather short in length and unsatisfactory.
  Basically we can hear a real difference if we hit VERY hard, like what
concert tuners do daily, or just less hard but still in a firm manner.
  The last one requires a very good tuning technique and it definitely
requires from the tuner to put his hammer ALWAYS into the direction of the
tail in the very first place.

  second : we should not confuse hard or soft blows with the way we listen
to, and perceive, piano sounds.
  A hard or softer blow literally defines - more or less - the presence of
higher or lower overtones.
  The way we perceive piano sounds, and the way we choose to enrich and
power our unisons defines the difference between piano tuners in general.
  The example I gave here of a technician working on a beautiful concert
grand, who made ugly (to my ears!) unisons, shows that indeed your unison is
not necessarily my unison.

  After my initial ear opening experience, I often experimented with
colleagues on the very same instrument, just to find out whether their
'tone' was different from mine, and indeed, the unisons I re-tuned sounded
completely different.

  Lastly : to those who tried out the hard versus soft blow but had no
result, I say this :
  The best 'place' on a piano to try this out, is in the first treble
section, just next (on right of) to the wound bass strings.
  This section is usually very sonorous and rich sounding.
  Just take one unison and re-rune it, but this time with tremendous blows,
as if your life depends on it, just like the professional life of a concert
tuner who depends on his rock steady unisons ok? If you do this, you will
clearly hear a difference between this one unison and the adjacent unisons.

  It is my personal experience, that tuning technique is far more important
than being able to make the most refined temperament.
  It is for that reason only that in one of the very best Piano Academies
(Hamamatsu) in the world, the young students learn to master tuning
technique first by doing pitch raise and pitch lowering ALL DAY long for
three Months (wow), and with the aid of a tuning machine. The result of
EVERY tuning is scribbled on a chalk board in the central hall, for
everybody to see, openly or sneakily. Showing their bad marks drives the
students to the edge of their abilities, and this usually results in already
having quite a decent tuning technique after those three Months.
  The next course is learning about temperament, but this time without
machines, and after one year, they are often just as good (or much better
even) than a tuner from our hemisphere who has already worked quite a number
of years.
  That's one of the main reasons, why I, after having fought with piano's
for the better part of my professional life, put the emphasis on technique,
and please with the aid of one of the best ETD's. I can concentrate fully on
technique, and on making 'tone'.
  BTW.... If someone here prefers to not use an ETD, than I have no
objections to that at all. How could I? and why should I? It is everybody's
personal choice, and I truly understand the love and dedication of making a
very beautiful aural tuning.
  I have had more than my share, that's why I choose for what I chose.

  André Oorebeek








  On 26-okt-04, at 18:26, jason kanter wrote:


    One of the very first basics we learn is that we must set the pin with a
firm blow to equalize the string tension across the friction points. How
does this relate to the current discussion of using rather soft blows to
tune unisons? I *imagine* that you tune with soft blows, then settle the pin
with a hard blow, then listen again with soft blow to ensure the tuning has
not moved? But the hard blow has likely changed the tuning, so ... do you
use soft blows while raising the pitch, then lowering it to a smidgeon
sharp, then apply a firm blow to settle the string into exactly the right
spot? If we avoid hard blows entirely, surely the piano will be immediately
put out of tune by the pianist?

    Puzzled in Seattle
    | |   | | |   | |   | | |   | |   | | |   | |   | | |   | |   | | |   |
|   | | |   | |
    Jason Kanter . piano tuning regulation repair
    jkanter@rollingball.com . cell 425 830 1561
    serving the eastside and the san juans
    -----Original Message-----
    From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
Behalf Of Quentin Codevelle
    Sent: Monday, October 25, 2004 9:32 PM
    To: pianotech
    Subject: How we hear to Jeneetah

    Hi,

    Maybe you should keep on making soft blows, but try to hit the key
quickly, without listening to the note during 15 sec like you said.
    That way you'll be able to hear the "attack" of the note, the first
stage of the sound that is produced.
    Having a clear and pure sounding attack is very important for me, and
I've never succeeded in having a clear attack when tuning with listening to
the note more than 2 or 3 seconds.

    For me, when I tune, when my attack is clear, the rest is also, and my
unisson has enough "length" most of times.
    I need much concentration right now to make clean unissons on every note
with this technique, that means it takes some time to have a good eveness.
    But since the beginning, you should hear a difference, YOUR sound will
be turning from black to white.

    Andre?

    Quentin.


  friendly greetings
  from
  André Oorebeek

  "where Music is, no harm can be"

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