Hello all:


I restored a badly built Zuckermann kit (Flemish single low C  to high e)
 with no experience, and just flying by the seat of my pants, when I was
about 21. I made this badly built thing work. And I experimented with
various tunings, and learned about the enharmonic notes by myself with no
help from anyone. Ab =/=G# .... etc.... I went on to become an organ
tuner/installer/voicer, etc for 20 years.  Self taught. Have courage!
Listen. Experiment. Trust your own ears. Read books. Anyone who wants to
can tune.  Throw away your electronic devices and use your brains and ears.
Listen and you will  be edified and understand and it will uplift you in
knowing what you have accomplished. Tuning a harrpsichord is pure pleasure
and once you can do it it goes by fast.  Tuning an organ can be a chore,
but still it is rewarding when it sounds so clear and clean and tight, and
all done by ear.  Have confidence in yourself and learn it.  Electronic
crutches simply weaken us.
Have fun with it, and discover the best!

On 19 July 2016 at 14:58, Borys Medicky <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I agree that tuning by ear is a valuable skill.  Given the harpsichord's
> brilliant tone, it's pretty easy to hear overtones and beats as you tune;
> far easier than on a mellow-sounding instrument like the piano.  As long as
> you're not tuning equal temperament, you will soon learn what to listen
> for.  Start out by knowing where to hear beats as you tune perfect fifths
> and fourths, major and minor thirds (having first mastered unisons and
> octaves, which are very easy).  With these in hand you have a good head
> start for almost any temperament.
>
> Somewhat controversially, I'd suggest examining Owen Jorgenson's pamphlet
> "Tuning the equal-beating temperaments by ear".  Although Jorgensen is not
> at all a reliable source for historical temperament information, he has
> this little chart showing where the easily audible overtones appear in
> commonly-tuned intervals (the same as what I listed above) which, many
> years back, I found invaluable for learning purposes.  You can take just
> about everything else he says with a big pinch of salt.
>
> That being said, I think there are legitimate scenarios for using an
> electronic tuner:
>
> -tuning in a noisy environment
> -tuning for a solo harpsichord recording, where being able to maintain a
> consistent pitch level and temperament makes subsequent editing easier
> -when one person has to tune 2 or more harpsichords identically for a
> concert or rehearsal
> -tuning equal temperament
>
> As far as equipment goes, I wholeheartedly concur one should just use a
> smartphone app, and in particular PitchLab Pro.  Cleartune is another app
> that's recommended by some, but I don't advise using it because it's pretty
> clear further development has been abandoned, at least on Android devices.
> The app actually has custom temperament programming, but those features are
> now impossible to access because Android phones today lack the physical
> menu button that older phones used to have, which triggered the submenu for
> adding custom temperaments.  The app ought to show the overflow menu (the
> one with three dots) in places where the old physical menu button was
> needed, but it doesn't.  I and others have contacted the app's author
> pointing this out, but he has never updated the Android version of the app,
> and I presume he has lost interest in ever doing so.
>
> BM
>
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-- 
Robert Watson
Ontario, Canada

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Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
[log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::