Re; Question about Beats during tuning

[David Love]

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You can also, btw, go to Richard Breckne's website and listen to the
beat rates which he has available there.  
 
David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net 
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Pianotunaguy@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 5:47 AM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re; Question about Beats during tuning
 

In a message dated 3/12/05 4:05:24 AM, tune4u@earthlink.net (who didn't
sign a name to his post) writes:





The very common march tempo of mm=120 will let you count 4 beats per
metronome tick, which is 8bps, and it's easy to get that rate into your
noodle storage space.




This is simply not true.  I conducted professional musical theater
productions for 25 years before becoming a tuner.  For 20 years I set
the tempi in my head for each song. (The goal being to play the same
tempo every night.)  I was known for my accuracy and consistency here in
Chicago.  Then, in the 1990s I became involved in computer sequencing of
live shows.  At this point, I was CERTAIN that the tempi were the same
night after night because the computer set the tempi.

Let me tell you: some nights that thing seemed    S  O       S   L   O
W  .   Other nights it seemed as if things were flying by.  I remember
the dance captain coming to me at intermission once to ask, "Is it
possible that the 'BlahBlah dance break' was fast tonight?"    No, it
was digitally the same as last night.  It just SEEMED faster tonight.

So maybe I was better than most at setting those tempi in my head prior
to the digital revolution (I'd like to think so), but I know now that I
was not 100% accurate.  It's not humanly possible.

So to bet the farm on your ability to set 120 in your head is folly. 

Knowing that, as a tuner I have never tried to count beats in tempo.  I
use comparison exclusively.  Yeah, the F3-A3 third is the starting point
and you try to hit that as close as you can, but by then comparing the
contiguous thirds F3-A3-C#4-F4 and making sure that you have a
progression there you can get it even closer if you missed it in the
first place. 

Even Virgil Smith has in his tuning sequence a quick check (using
comparison) to make sure that his F3-A3 third is beating properly.  If
all you had to do was memorize a tempo, why would Virgil Smith,
certainly one of the greatest tuners of his generation, use comparison
to check his beat speed on that opening F3-A3 third?

Trying to memorize beat speeds in your head is a waste of time in my
opinion.  At the very least, I can guarantee that there are other ways
to skin the cat.  My proof: I recently passed the RPT exam with all
scores 93 or higher.  And I never ever try to count beats.  Ever.  I
only compare.

Tom Sivak
Chicago Chapter PTG Associate

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