Hello Might I suggest you try ghosting as a focusing technique to hear the beats. Examples. tuning a 4th: Tune F3 to Bb3 slightly wide. Get it close by ear, when you are in range ghost the 4:3 partial at F5. You can do this 2 ways. a: audition the ghost solo by depressing F3 and Bb3 quietly without sounding the notes, then strike F5 FF to excite the sympathetic 4:3 beating on F3 and Bb3 respectively. b) play f3 and Bb3 quietly and strike F5 loudly to amplify the 4:3 partial within the whole sound. example 2: tuning a 3rd f3-a3 Depress f3 and a3 without sounding the notes, just to disengage the dampers. Strike A5 forte as a staccato note. The A5 tone will speak sympathetically as the 5th partial on F3, and on the 4th partial on A3. This sounds the beating portion of the 3rds tone. When this beating sound is clear in your mind, sound the 3rd quietly sustained and amplify the beating partial with loud staccato blows to A5. example 3: tuning a 5th F3 to C4. As above depress or sustain F3 and C4 while striking C5; the partials at the 3rd and 2cond level respectfully. By striking the C6 you may generate a different faster beat rate at the 6:4 level. Both rates are there in the sound together. Listen and tune to the 3:2 not the 6:4 level. Example 4 : Octave tuning. Enjoyed the samples of octaves recently posted. Hope to post some similar stuff soon.(time!!) Take A1 to A2, Ghost A3and make it pure Ghost E4 & make it pure Ghost A4 & make it pure Ghost C#5 & make it pure You will find that with each step higher in the series the sound requests a progressively wider octave. The 6:3 half way between a double octave from the lower note, and the triple octave is a good compromise. It is said there is a sweet spot somewhere between these reference points. I do not uphold onto these points as fixed tuning spots, but only as known sign posts indicating where we are in the spectrum. Ghosting is best used as an amplifier of a desired reference point. When ghosting is used solo the whole string is not in normal motion. I hypothesize the pitch is microscopically different.(have not succeeded in measuring this yet..must try) Try this A) tune A1-A2 by sustaining A1-A2 quietly with the left hand and ghosting A3-E4-A5(octave with a 5th in the middle) by a loud staccato blow with the right hand. This generates 3 beat rates which you may hear in clear conflict. Try to tune the best blend of the confusing rates to nullify there collective effect insomuch as possible. B) Try ghosting the whole dominant 7th cord over A1-A2 in various inversions E4-G4-A4-C#5...and even higher inversion for fun.(I know G4 is not in the A2 series, but it is in A1, and the first harmonic of the G4 you are striking is in the A2 series) The point is; we are experimenting amplifying more complex & more fully complete parts of the whole tone within the context of sounding the whole tone. I find experimenting with this stuff helps in the following ways as teaching and focusing techniques. 1)the student learns the harmonic series under their fingers in a practical way...not just in the head. 2)It helps the student hear beats more clearly sooner by helping them focus at specific levels. 3) It helps clarify the spead of harmonics from pure and clarify the need for choices, and the acceptable range choices. 4) It allows individual pianos to speak to the student about octave choices early in the learning curve. I likely could go on with benefits, but let my conclude with this thought. I believe it is true what Virgil has been saying about the whole sound. With our machines, and advanced understanding of sound we have learned to define fixed points of reference that sometime take away from the complex nature of tone and subtle difference that may dictate for pitch. By ghosting over quit sustained whole sounds with multiple ghosts that represent more of the whole sound I think we temper our 6:3s in the bass accordingly to individual strings and sounds. We are led to balance sometimes conflicting elements and quirks that appear throughout individual pianos. My hope is to find time to record demos of the results of perfect 4:2 6:3 8:4 octaves at various places in the bass, and also record ghosting sounds and results it generates to see how that changes my judgement placing pitch into the whole spectrum. As a footnote; I do not actually find time for much of this fun and games during road tuning. Sometimes at a concert hall on a good 9 foot it is interesting to take the time during an early morning session alone and quiet. Most small pianos on the road get 6:3 bass imposed on them; for no matter where I put it the sound still bugs me. I have concluded for now that this is the best compromise. On good quality big pianos listening and pondering these things is fascinating. Cheers David Renaud __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
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