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Sara
2006-
Excellent piano tuning is not a very subjective thing.
It is not done by someone with a "good ear"
who decides "Well,that sounds good enough!"
Fine piano tuning is a combination of technical
and artistic skill - not that much unlike being a good musician. It takes both knowledge and lots of practice. There are no
shortcuts. While being a musician with a good ear really helps considerably, I have to say that when I started tuning years
ago that it really made me "listen" more intently. Changed me forever, for the good.
There are bad tunings,
good tunings, and excellent tunings.
In other words, not worth it tunings, worth it tunings, and more than worth it tunings.
Concert tunings would be the only fresher of all of these.
There are objective criteria for determining if a piano
is "in tune":
A = 440 ------ What does this mean?
In 1936, USA musicians agreed
to standardize the pitch of the note to which they tuned their instruments. They agreed to tune to an A (A above middle "C")
that vibrated at a frequency of 440 cycles per second. Before that time, the A in different parts of the world (and parts
of our own country) varied. Once this standard was established, piano manufacturers began designing their instruments [plates]
to be tuned to this pitch as well. When a piano is properly tuned, the A above middle C is "set" to 440 cycles per
second (c.p.s.) (old school terminology)and now this is called Hertz(Hz for short) (new school terminology) Before an orchestra
concert, the oboe player plays the tuning note for the strings FIRST, and then the winds. This pitch is always an "A",
but not always an A=440. Some orchestras tune to A=442 for a slightly "brighter" tone. String players LOVE this.
Gives a "brighter" tone that "sparkles" as one string player told me.
The definition of Hertz:
Hertz- The SI unit of frequency, in particular the number of times something occurs in one second, abbreviated
Hz. Named after Heinrich Rudolph Hertz (1857-1894). The unit is sometimes alternatively expressed as c. p. s.
The
musician or piano technician gets the pitch for this note from either a tuning fork or an electronic tuning device. In about
1940 most of the rest of the world followed suit in having A=440 as the standard.
If the piano is more than slightly
"flat" (or below this pitch), it will probably need a pitch raise. When tuning a piano, the technician begins by
tuning all the notes in one octave of the middle of the piano to each other. This is called setting the temperament. Then
the upper and lower strings are tuned. When the tension on all the strings on the piano is increased enough to get a piano
that is flat up to pitch, the increased pressure on the bridges and soundboard actually cause the middle notes of the piano
to go flat compared to the pitch to which they were originally set. So the piano would have to be tuned again ... and probably
again ... and again ... until it was "up to pitch". Important since the piano itself was DESIGNED to be at this
standard.
To avoid this, the pitch of all the strings can be raised to slightly above where they should be, and
when this pitch raise is complete, the center notes should be very close to the correct pitch. The piano can then be tuned
properly. Obviously, it takes training and considerable experience to be able to raise the pitch just the right amount.
The pitch raise is, pretty much, a very "rough" tuning which gets the tension on the strings close to what
is should be, preparing the piano for a fine tuning which will stay "up to pitch." Because of the extra time involved
as well as the skill (there are piano tuners who do not know how to do a pitch raise, or who will tell you the piano cannot
be brought up to pitch), technicians charge extra for this service. I charge an additional $25 for a pitch raise. This is
not just for the technique itself but a time cost as well. Extra attention requires extra money. This is true of any service.
Ask a CMT. Generally, a tuning after a "radical" pitch raise will not be quite as stable as a tuning on a piano
that was only slightly out of tune. This is the main reason to have your piano tuned regularly. This also will keep the resale
value higher.
Using my Peterson 490ST (electronic tuning aid, ETA, for short), I can now do some "moderate"
pitch raises in one pass.
There is a lot of debate among technicians on whether a pitch raise must be done on pianos
which are flat, or whether a pitch raise is only recommended. It is true that pianos manufactured since the early 1900s were
designed to be tuned to A=440. This is where they will sound the best. However, this pitch was arbitrarily decided upon. The
piano will not sound "out of tune" if the A is set to some other pitch and all the other notes on the piano are
properly tuned to that pitch. However, if the piano is going to be played with other instruments (for example, you are going
to accompany someone who plays the flute or other melody instrument), the piano almost certainly must be tuned up to pitch.
Other instruments cannot "tune down" very far.
I recommend (mainly because of design requirements) that
pianos be tuned to the correct standard pitch of A=440. However, I give people the following options if their piano is flat:
Do a pitch raise (and a tuning)
OR
Bring the pitch up slightly while
doing a tuning without a pitch raise, and encourage the owner to have the piano tuned again in about 2-6 months (or sooner
if needed), at which time the pitch can be brought up a little more. Continue this until the piano is up to pitch.
As a musician myself, I believe it is very important to develop good relative pitch. This is impossible on a piano
that is not in tune with itself. Therefore I believe that tuning the piano relative to itself but below pitch is preferable
to not tuning it at all.
There are many people who call themselves piano tuners who do not know how to do a pitch
raise, or who will say a piano cannot be tuned up to pitch. I have not encountered any pianos that were tunable that could
not be brought up to pitch. I do warn customers that there is always a chance with older pianos that strings may break. However,
it is usually true that the strings will break in these pianos when the pitch is changed at all - not just from a pitch raise.
Piano wire can become brittle after many decades, and any change in tension can cause it to break. I tell my customers that
if three or more strings break in the middle of the piano, I will stop tuning and consult with them about the best way to
proceed. I do not recall ever encountering a piano on which I could not do a successful pitch raise. Some pianos have been
extremely low (whole step or more).
Unisons
There are 88 notes on a piano, but over 200 strings! This
is because in the top two-thirds or so of the piano, there are three strings per note. In the top half of the bass section,
there are two strings per note. Each group of two or three strings should be vibrating at the same frequency as its neighbor(s).
It should sound like one uniform pitch! These are called unisons.
If the unisons are "out," the note
will sound "fuzzy" (like an old Sunday School piano that has been neglected, or honky-tonk sounding) and distorted
because the sound waves coming from the two or three strings are close to the same pitch, but not the same pitch. When the
unisons are perfectly in tune with each other, the note will sound "pure" or "clean", like one-note instead
of several on one key! What an AWFUL sound when notes are "out". Ask me to demonstrate this sometime to you.
There are several techniques which qualified piano technicians use to make sure the unisons not only get in tune with
each other, but stay in tune for as long as possible after the technician has left. The piano technician learns to use the
tuning hammer in such a way as to ensure that the tuning pin will be in a stable position after the tuning hammer is removed
from the end of the pin. The good technician gives "test blows" aka "strike-blows"to each note as he/she
tunes it. This means striking the note firmly in order to equalize the tension on different parts of the string. If a tuner
tunes quietly, the tuning cannot nor will it be stable. The first person to sit down at the piano and play it forcefully will
knock it out of tune.
Intervals
The most difficult part of tuning is to make sure that all 88
notes on the piano are in tune with each other. Out of the hundreds of ways of tuning pianos in earlier centuries, modern
musicians settled on one - equal temperament. The "distance" between the bottom and top notes of an octave is "broken
up" into 12 "pieces". One way of imagining equal temperament is to think of the "distance" between
two notes. For instance, the relationship between the two notes that make up a "fifth" on a piano stays the same,
even though the pitches change. Every fifth on the piano has the same sound to your ear, even if the pitches are different.
This is because the relationship between the two notes in any fifth is the same. This was not always the case "back in
the day".
After setting the A to 440, I will start to tune the piano by setting the pitches of all the notes
in one octave so that they are in correct relationship with each other. This is called "setting the temperament,"
and it is the hardest part of piano tuning. It is like one of those wooden geometric puzzles, and the puzzle has 13 pieces.
Whenever you move one piece, it affects all the other pieces in the puzzle. It takes tuning SEVERAL pianos before one can
set a really excellent temperament. With my musicianship and experience (on many levels) this came to me much faster to me
than it would for most people.
Each technician develops his/her own pattern - the order in which the notes in the
temperament are tuned. But the end result can be judged very objectively. There are test intervals which tell a well-trained
technician if the intervals in the temperament are correctly tuned. The technician listens for "beats," or the sound
of two sound waves interfering with one another. An experienced technician can sit down at any piano and tell whether it is
properly tuned or not, and if not, where the errors are. There is some subjectivity in this judgment, but not very much!
After the temperament is set, I then tune the notes above and below those already tuned. When the piano is properly
tuned and an interval is played chromatically up or down the keyboard, there should be an even sound. In other words, if chromatic
thirds are played, there should not be one interval of a third that "sticks out" from its neighbors.
The
design of the piano and the quality of its components and assembly affect how well it can be tuned. The result of a really
fine tuning is that the piano is tuned the very best that that piano can be tuned. A good tuning is truly a joy to hear.
This is not everything there is to tuning a piano, but this should give you an idea of the amount of training and
skill required in order to tune really well. I will be happy to answer any questions you have about piano tuning. There is
always a short answer and a long answer, and depending on our schedules and needs, I will be happy to accomodate!
A happy piano is a tuned piano! People WANT to play and hear a tuned piano and out-of-tune pianos are soon neglected even
further! TUNE THAT PIANO!!!
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