Piano Tuning

Hey Guys! I just thought I would let you all now that The Institute of Instrument Technology just launched the first and only online piano tuning and repair certification course. Check them out at ********edit

 

Ok, ... but this Certification isn't important to piano players. I might be wrong, but I don't think anyone in this Society is interested in earning money tuning other people's pianos. I don't think this is the right web site for you. IMO.

 

I am a piano player and most tuners are as well. Just thought it might be appropriate for people who might want to learn to tune or add to their career as a player. I have found that a lot of players tune on the side for some extra money between gigs.. Every one could use a little extra money am I right?

 

Hey Guy ! I think this site looks suspiciously like a one-man (that being you) web shop. It's understandable that you want to make some money, don't we all, but on this site we do not like people plugging commercial things. I could be all wrong about it but this IIT site looks totally fake to me, showing no names, addresses or any other concrete information that one would normally look for to get some confidence. I also could find no references on the web. What I do find are these

College of Instrument Technology
Institute Of Musical Instrument Technology

and maybe more, but not your IIT which is evidently just a flashy alias for pianotuningschool.com.
Tell me if I'm wrong !
Actually, I would not like to have a tuner who learned his trade from an online course . . .

 

Nope. Not a one guy shop. was formed by a "group of passionate instrument lovers" (page -Why IIT). I am a third generation piano technician and I view the school as a starting point for people wanting to learn the trade. Not everyone can get an apprenticeship so our school gets them started on the right path. I'm not hear to "Plug" commercial "things". I am a pianist as well and I wanted to join in on some of the conversations I have been reading.

Since you took the time to bash my work and the company I work for, tell me techneut, how would you feel if I did the same thing to you?

 

I would feel like I and my company would need to present themselves better, so as not to give the impression of a one-man shop.
Take the hint, as it were.

 

I agree. This piano tuning website has the look of a scam, and not even one that's slickly presented. The idea of such a hands-on skill being taught in a "multiple choice, true/false and short essay question" format seems risible to me.

 

Thanks for your "hints" guys... Have you ever looked at other piano tuning schools? This is how it is done at EVERY school... We don't have many options with online schools guys.. And since all the in person schools have gone out of business due to lack of intrest, online is the only way we can truely spread our knowledge...

Try not to be so cynical.. Do your research before cutting down people projects (which they pour their lives into). It makes you look like you think you know everything...

 

Michael,
Just because all technicians play some piano in no way translates the otherway. Again, "certification" is for peolple trying to warrant their business and fees. We just aint' those people here. Some of us will do some tuning and repair to our personal instruments but have no interest in trying to have a side job working on other people's pianos. We want nothing more than to spend more time playing our pianos. Good luck as you look elsewhere.

 

Why do we not get all together and start an online driving school?

 

Anymore, aren't most people some form of on-line while they're driving??? :roll:

 

Very well said man. Well as a pianist, I wouldn't really be interested in this online piano tuning certification course. Knowing how to tune and all is good but I'll just let other people do that for me. Just saying.

 

A few years ago I read in an old book that it is very good for a pianist to tune their own piano,
because it forms a certain bond between the pianist and the instrument.

I then began to learn to tune my own Piano-Forte and at first I was very nervous,
but now it goes very easy and is very convenient when the weather changes again.

I have noticed that the writer of this old book had a very good point
because since tuning my own Piano-Forte I have “bonded” very well with my instrument;
we have become a “working unit” and I feel very good about it.

 

Performing a DIY piano tuning is a risky thing to do, especially if you have a vintage piano. There are also, however, many pianos that have been "rebuilt", or "restored" by professed rebuilders or parties who:

a) Didn’t know what they were doing,
b) Cut corners, or otherwise tried to get by with the bare minimum in order to save a few bucks,
c) Used substandard parts or materials, or
d) "Customized" or altered the piano in experimental and untested ways.

Piano tuning is more than tightening or adjusting the strings of the piano, it's about making the piano sound harmonious and return it to its proper pitch. Generally it should be done every six months to a year.

You can read more about it at http://www.steinway-piano.com

 

this is a really funny topic. Well I have to say I prefer learn piano tunning direct with the person(teacher) next to me on a piano which I did. So there is no frequency distorsion over the internet.
Good luck with your business project.

 

I agree with you, timmyotoole...

Before I ventured to tune my Fortepiano, I watched a piano-tuner many times
and I made sure I don’t make any mistakes which could be harmful to my instrument,
because tuning has to be handled in a very, very sensitive way...

We also need to be aware of the instrument's original pitch...

You are absolutely right, DIY-piano-tuning can be a risky business,
and there is much more to it than just tightening or adjusting the strings...

I usually tune my Fortepiano whenever any dramatic changes in the weather/temperature
can be heard in the instrument and I only tune my instrument when I feel it does need tuning...

 

Makes sense :lol:

 

Used to think the idea of tuning you own precious, all-important-mode-of-personal-expression was VERY SCARY....

But I came around...... Here's why...

1. I like my unisons in PERFECT condition ALL the time

2. I DON'T like what some (not all) tuners do to my piano

3. The advent of really FANTASTIC tuning programs (you got it... computer-tuning... shock... horror!)

4. Not putting the HURT on your piano means... in the first instance... not "flag-polling" the tuning pins..... That's absolutely critical...*it'll wreck that old pinblock!!!....but guess what? Most tuners DO NOT pay much attention to this issue! I'm not even sure that many of them pay much attention to "setting the pin," which means, torquing the pin so that it doesn't rebound-back out of tune in no time flat!

S0???/ What to do????

OK... DON'T try to learn the art of tuning from scratch, unless you've got a LOT of time...

Don't just try using ANY old piano tuning program... there are lots of free ones... but they don't "stretch" accurately.

There's only ONE answer.... it's expensive to start with (initial outlay is), but better (sorry to say) than 99 per cent of the tuners out there... "Verituner": it calculates the precise and proper relation of every note on your particular instrument to every OTHER note. The temperament octave is provided with perfect targets (not inharmonicity constants based on an arbitrary theoretical curve, but ACTUAL constants based on every other note on your piano); and if you have time, you can measure every note on your instrument with this beautiful program and come up with a FANTASTIC tuning for your individual piano.

Now tuning your piano AGAINST the targets provided by the program is another matter. You must have a REALLY good tuning hammer (*I'm partial to the new hammers which jolt the pin, and make flagpolling impossible). And you need to get used to difficult strings that do not (on many instruments) tune up easily.,.. But that's the fun part, in my view.

Here, as elsewhere at this site, is the Hailun 218, tuned by ME!!! using Verituner.... and the unisons have settled a bit... I can do a little better than this .... but still.... pretty phenom!

http://www.box.com/s/3886484e13e55c6c1fd6

By way of edit, here's a little Scarlatti, recorded using Beyer Ribbons:


http://www.box.com/s/xn3ccd4h78q6sg8y0ccp

Anything by Scarlatti will be revealing of various difficult-to-tune intervals on the piano, because the music really wants a non-standard, non-equal temperament tuning, which I do not use with Verituner. Although it will do them, of course.

Cheers,

JG

 

Sounds very nice. Not just the tuning but the playing too! A movement from one of the Partitas I presume?

 

Just a very quick, and avowedly unthoughtful rendition of the C major prelude, WTC book 2.

Why this piece? Because it is dense in and around C3, which is very, very revealing of microphones and microphone placement where pianos are concerned.

I'm in the throes of purchasing recording equipment; therefore, I'm trying out many different types of microphone and putting them to what I think is a pretty demanding test. Chopin Nocturnes, for example, make almost any mic sound OK to REALLY GOOD. Not demanding at all, I'm afraid. So I'm sticking to unforgiving, one might even say, "unpleasing" material to put various rented mics to the test.

Eventually, I'll purchase something.

It's a hard road .... but I think I'm getting somewhere.

This particular recording uses the Beyerdynamic M160 Ribbon mics, which are mainly used "in the business" as overhead mics for drums, not really for pianos! But they are unequivocally better, in the present instance, than the more expensive AKG 414 XLMs. The 414s are great multipurpose mics, but I have concluded that they do not record classical piano (mic always well outside the instrument) particularly well.

The small diaphram condensor mics, like the AKG 541s (I think I got that right) seem to work very, very well; although they sound quite different from the Beyers I used here (along with "Garageband!!!", but any wav editing program will do.... I think they're all the same where this sort of simple 2 channel live recording is concerned. Garageband just happens to be on the little Macbook I'm using).

Interesting journey. I am learning a little about mics and recording, but it is taking time!

JG