Re: [Harp-L] Tuning



Piano tuners use their ears to gauge the speed of the beating of two strings vibrated by striking two keys
at the sime time while blocking all but one string associated with each key with rubber chocks.
Two keys are sounded that will produce an interval which, when properly tuned, beats at a rate that is countable,
and tuners train by listening to recordings of various beat rates.  There are scores of useful test intervals
known to piano tuners, applicable to various purposes on the piano.  The 19th is a popular interval, for instance; 
the octave certainly is not, because success in tuning it yields zero beating (or a slow roll in the case
where octave-stretching is needed) and it is not easy, and certainly not quick, to tell the difference between 
zero beats and a slow roll, or to compare the rates of two slow rolls. Sometimes it is not the absolute beat rate 
that is attended to, but rather, a gradual increase in beat rate as the same test interval is moved up the keyboard.
While it is useful for a piano tuner to also have a good sense of pitch, luckily it is not essential, since an occupa-
tional hazard of long-term piano tuning is deafness: strings are best struck quite hard (as hard as they would
ever be played), to make sure that hard play will not detune them and this is done while the tuner must reach into
the piano turn the tuning peg with a hammer.  
     Tuning a harmonica by ear, e.g., to just intonation, is also best done by selecting intervals other than octaves and
unisons, where beats are very slow or absent.

John Thaden

======= At 2008-06-24, 18:26:20 you wrote: =======
>About tuning.
>Most "pro" piano or harp tuners use their "ear"...
>OK
>They might use a tuning fork or an electronic tuner as a "guide"
>But honestly, USE YOUR EAR!
>If you have an ability in music you will KNOW when things are out of  tune.
>If not, send your harps to a harp tec, to tune them.
>John Walden 
>London, England.
>
>
>
>   
>_______________________________________________
>Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
>Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
>http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
			

Best regards.				 
john
jjthaden@xxxxxxxxx
2008-06-25





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