Concert Tuning for Jim Brickman

[Porritt, David]

Terry:

 

I'd blame the stage, AC, lights etc. for the problems you found there.
My experience with the C7 has been very good.  We have one here in a
small (175 seat) auditorium in our Museum and it is a delightful piano
with an excellent sound.  

 

I don't think tuning either aurally or electronically would matter in
the scene you described below.  Sue the architect!  As you mentioned, in
tuning aurally you depend on previously tuned (but unstable) notes to
tune other notes.  Using an ETD at least your pitch reference is stable.
That's the great thing about using an ETD for pitch raises.  Pitch
raising aurally your standard keeps moving.  One can learn to cope with
that and learn to succeed in pitch raising aurally, but for my money
it's a lot of unnecessary work.  

 

dave

 

David M. Porritt, RPT

dporritt at smu.edu

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Farrell
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 5:02 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Concert Tuning for Jim Brickman

 

Anyone ever heard of a pianist named Jim Brickman? My understanding is
that he writes and performs "adult contemporary" music and has won an
Emmy Award (maybe more than one?).

 

Anyway, I tuned a Yamaha C7 for him the other day. I haven't had the
guts to ask how the piano sounded for the concert. The AC vents above
the stage (very small stage in a 100-seat venue) was blowing right onto
the piano - there really wasn't any way to move the piano away from
them, nor was there any way to direct the air elsewhere.

 

The piano was 10 cents flat upon arrival. During the two-hour pitch
raising and tuning process, the AC probably cycled six times or more,
blowing for lengthy times. That way I could get maybe one section of the
scale tuned, and then while tuning the next section the pitch of the
previous section would wander three to five cents sharp or flat.
Needless to say, when all was said and done, this piano had about the
worst octaves I have ever walked away from.

 

And then of course, later on, the 4,000 stage lights at 10,000 watts
each will go on and be directed at the piano.

 

I use and ETD for tuning from a calculated curve. I have two questions.
First, would an aural tuning process be better suited for this situation
- my thinking is that every string the aural tuner sets has its pitch
based on previous strings (read: previous octaves) - and maybe as the
sections/octaves wander up and down with the AC, the aural tuner would
be keeping better pace/pitch with the moving piano pitch? Second, is
there anything else one can do in this situation? Or is the answer to
question #2 "Welcome to concert work!"

 

Thanks.

 

Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano

 

BTW: This was a nearly-new C7. The bass strings sounded like crap - many
had some level of "tubbyness". Even though the long bridge did not have
a hockey stick tenor end, the last few notes in the tenor still had the
"rubber-band" sound - rather poor break for a piano of this size (how
did Yamaha manage that on a good size piano like this?). And it had a
noticeable developing killer octave. IMHO, pretty sad state for such a
"nice" piano.

 

www.farrellpiano.com
terry at farrellpiano.com

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