Hi Ram,
Tuning is a
very complicated question indeed, and so unstable on op of it ! First, I think
you will know if your piano sounds well tuned or not, though it might be hard
to prove scientifically (will elaborate on that point later). Just listen to it
when you play and if it sounds right (
juste), you will simply know it. For
this, better to play pieces that you know well and that are slow enough to give
you time to listen to the sound you are producing and to hear the intervals
between the notes. (no point in trying the bumble bee here)
If you have
any doubt while you’re trying your slow pieces, it might be that (a) it’s not
well tuned, or (b) that your playing is out of tune. If you’d like to work on
playing in tune, get yourself an ancient instrument. The most difficult
keyboard one is the
clavichord, with this instrument you can play anything from
Bach till Mozart and because your finger is striking the string directly, it
has the power to make the note’s tone higher or lower. When I was studying this
subject in the conservatory, where the ancient instruments where in an
especially bad tuning (and other) condition, it was one of the main challenges-
to make them sound in tune, remember which note is low and which is high and
press the keys accordingly so that you improve the instrument’s tuning. After
that, playing in tune on piano will be easy, and yes, there is definitely a
question of playing in tune even on a modern piano- how long you stay on a note
and how you strike it can make it sound higher or lower, though less
dramatically so than on ancient instruments. This is why it is essential to
master the art of timing and sound production in order to play juste.
In case the
problem might be (a), I could get you recommendations
from pianists I know in Israel
for an excellent tuner.
Going back
to the beginning, and on why good tuning cannot be scientifically proven, I’ll
tell you what happened to me a year ago. I was playing a concert with Bach and
Chopin. I knew the tuner to be a very good one, as I worked with him before,
but somehow when I tried the piano after his tuning, I was unsatisfied,
especially for my Bach pieces. The tension between the intervals was not as I
would have liked it to be, and yet I could not say that the piano was not in
tune, it was as well in tune as equal tuning could be. So I told him the tuning
was too equal and that it lacked tension. He agreed with me and told me that he
was obliged to tune that day with the machine, something he does only rarely,
because the next day there was a 2 piano concert and both instruments had to be
completely the same. Scientifically the piano might have been in tune, but not
to my ear.
Anyway, as
I said at the beginning, tuning is by essence unstable, it changes with the
weather, with how much you play and how you play. It changes also with your
piano’s mood :-)Thought it would be nice to bring here a nice picture :
the Lépante clavichord,Cité de la Musique, Paris.
Music Discussed
