9/19/2023 0 Comments Tuning by ear practice![]() ![]() Then check everything playing three or four parallel octaves.įor all this to make any difference at all, your regulation needs to be perfect, or it won’t matter–unless you’re playing in Cb major. Stretching the octaves keeps the upper fifths a bit more reasonable, without hurting the octave. Then re-check the temperament section, and go up, stretching with each octave a bit more. Then I go down by ear, stretching very slightly flat with each octave, and cross-checking with fourths, fifths, and thirds, and also double-checking with the electronic. You have to learn what to listen for: some intervals need slow beats, some need fast, some need to be dead in. I am speaking of pedal harp, in equal temperament lever harp can be different. All the time, I am cross-checking ear with the electronic by listening to fourths, fifths, thirds, and sixths. In answer to your last question, here is how I tune: I set the temperament with the electronic from 4th A up to about 3rd C or D. The octaves end up out with each other, and the temperament is a mess. It is difficult to get the notes really nailed on the pitch: one will be a cent or two flat, and the next a cent or two sharp. I think electronic tuner problems are worst from roughly 3rd octave C and up. So, how long after plucking should the pitch cross “0”? Is that time the same in bass and treble? Those questions are generally resolved naturally when tuning by ear. ![]() An additional problem is any string attacks sharp when plucked, and decays flat. Electronic does not supply nearly as much accuracy in pitch comparison as a good ear, with the exception of the full-strobe Peterson tuners. How can you read fractions of a cent on most tuners? Electronic tuners have microphones that don’t pick up well for low and high notes. But remember, less than 50 years ago everything was tuned by ear–that is all there has been for centuries–though with very mixed results, as old recordings often witness to.Įlectronic tuners have limitations of display resolution. And a lot of music instrument theory to learn if you want to be able to understand and correct what you are hearing with the different intervals. Tuning by ear, to really get it nailed, takes practice. They each have different strengths and limitations. Both ways can produce really poor results. I would say mellow is in the “ear of the beholder” Ideally, both ways would produce the exact same result–the frequency of each ascending semitone is (approx) 1.059 times what the note below is, assuming equal temperament. ![]()
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