rowuk

I have no serious intonation issues when using the silent brass. Playing a mute all the time distorts your sense of sound. You can't play brilliantly or project with a mute!

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adonis74

People who tune pianos use tuners to tune the pianos they tune. Why is that?

adonis74

Using the ECHO feature on the Silent Brass adds a dimension that is helpful in getting a better feel for the sound.

c.nelson

Professional piano tuners do not use tuners,they use a stopwatch!
Google piano tuning.

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Tootsall

We had Anton Kuerti (Google him) come here to do a concert and he brought his own piano tuner with him. The guy used tuning forks. (Apparently he'd left the knives and spoons at home).

adonis74

A tuning fork is a tuner. It's just not an electronic one.

If a piano is tuned with a tuner (or tuning fork), it has to be one generation less accurate than the tuner.

It's hard to justify saying one shouldn't have an accurate tuning device somewhere in one's arsenal, though it doesn't have to become a crutch.

trpt2345

While tuners have their uses I tend to make my students tune to a piano (because the piano is not going to change, and not all pianos are A=440). (We played at Orchestra Hall today and they were at about 443). Nick's right, you do have to use your ears. Over reliance on tuners stunts your growth in hearing which is the true source of good intonation. I find student often don't know when they're out of tune whether they are sharp or flat.

My $.02.

Michael McLaughlin

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adonis74

But, if they don't know they're out of tune, they're happy!

richtom

In Dave Monette's old acclimation booklet (That booklet should be required reading. It is overflowing with plain common sense), he pointed out something that I have found very true.
Cheap electronic tunes often "hear" the harmonic and show that tone instead of the one you actually played. Mine does it quite frequently and it is not an ultra cheap tuner. (It is a Sabine MT 9000).
Think about it for a second. You have cheap microphone that might be the size of an pencil eraser trying to handle a loud trumpet tone. All you're going to get is a distortion.
That said, I do find mine useful when it is off to my side or slightly behind me. I can then spot check a particular tone without staring at the tuner. I never put the tuner on the stand in front of me. It's distracting and the tuner go crazy with the harmonics.
For those of you not old enough to have ever used the great old Conn Strobo-Conn tuners, you missed something. Those tuners cost a small fortune years ago and used a large stand mounted microphone that looked straight out of a recording or radio studio. Those tuners read the harmonics and the multiple meters would actually move not only to the projected tone, but all the "readible" harmonics.
I used one in high school and it really taught me what to listen for when in rehearsal or performance - especially that being in perfect tune can be out of tune. Your ears are still the best tuning mechanism but judicious use of a decent tuner is a very viable and valuable tool.
Rich Tomasek

c.nelson

I'm guessing the guy didn't have a fork for every note on the piano.
They use a few for reference,yes, but just to get the middle octave.
from there they judge the timing of the "beats" between different intervals.
they don't all use a stop watch. Some are good just enough not to need one.

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The perfect man has no self; the holy man has no merit; the sage has no fame.(Chang Tsu)