When I was learning to tune the notion was to tune it "dead". Meaning that when the unison is spot on you can immediately hear the note close up almost right from the attack. You don't need to hear the entire development of the roll to know that it will or won't develop. The same thing is true of a fifth, for example, you don't need to wait five seconds to know whether there will be three beats. With practice and a developed awareness you can tell almost immediately how fast that roll will be. It takes practice though and attention to what you are anticipating not just what is happening, just like with pitch change associated with the feel of pin movement in the block that I mentioned in an earlier post. Think of it this way, the best tennis players don't need to actually see the serve coming at them at 150 mph to know where it's going, they can anticipate from the body position and movement of the server and so can begin to react before the ball is actually on its way. And that's what they do. It's a learned skill coming from countless hours of practice and feedback. The same is true in tuning a piano. You (hopefully) learn to anticipate the outcome from other feedback that you are getting. It takes countless hours of practice but moreover a focus on developing an awareness of those other inputs. That's what peak performance is all about. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Ron Nossaman Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 8:34 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] shorter final tuning time with pitch raises; forearm smash On 11/5/2010 3:52 AM, David Nereson wrote: > I wanted to say the same thing. "Slow rolls" don't happen in a > half-second, but are often noticeable by the customer. > --David Nereson I don't recall forbidding you to listen past a half second. I said most everything you need is within the first half second of the attack. And yes, you can hear a 3+ second beat begin to diverge in that time frame. If you were to try it, you might discover that. You were asking about ways to lower your tuning time. I've given you one I have found by my own experience and that of others, to work very well. You can try it and learn for yourself what it has to offer you, or not. Arguing against it without trying it (which, unlike a new hammer, won't cost you anything) won't teach you anything at all. Take it or leave it. Ron N
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