Lessons learned from 88 keys

Did you know that there are currently over 20 recognized different ways to tune a standard piano? Each tuning emphasizes certain characteristics or keys. Some sound brighter, some sound duller, some sound great in major keys but not in minor etc. Did you know that from the days of Chopin until the recent past, it was common to request a particular tuning for your piano? Did you know that in the last 20 years or so, most pianos have been tuned to the mathmatically "perfect" tuning?

To understand my point, I need to explain tuning and pianos a bit. Each key on the piano is one semitone apart. A, Bb, B, C, C# etc. Each semitone is further divided into cents. There are 100 cents between C and C#. Mathematically perfect tuning has all notes on the piano tuned exactly 100 cents apart from the lowest note to the highest note. This looks good on paper, but sounds mediocre at best. Think of it as a multi-purpose tuning that works like a sledge hammer on tac nails when trying to play the classical pieces.

Some of the other tunings put individual notes in the scale slightly sharp or flat depending on the tuning. Some notes are up to 10 cents off of mathematically perfect tuning. Most of the other tunings have the lowest notes tuned slightly sharp and the highest notes tuned slightly flat. (See below for technical explanation). Some of the more radical tunings have the lowest notes 25 cents flat and the highest notes 25 cents sharp. Combine both and you have some notes as far as 35+ cents off from mathematically perfect tuning.

Artists would often favor one tuning over another and write songs that work best in that tuning. Playing the song in any other tuning would still get the point across, but it'd be like an out of focus picture or hearing a symphony on a pocket radio.

This right here is an example of an overall change in the American society. No longer do you see the dedication to a skill that you used to. Instead of mechanics by trade or shop keeper by trade, you have mechanics and shop keepers by job title only. That's what they do until they can find a better paying job. No longer do people strive to be the best ______ they can be, but they move from job to job all through their careers, always trying to move up. What we're left with is an all purpose person with no real skills. They dedicated their career to learning a little about everything, rather than everything about a little. This has very real consequences.

There's a semi-retired car mechanic in my home town. He is truly dedicated to his work. With the exception of the most recent cars, you could give him make model year and brief description of the problem and he can tell you from memory what's wrong with the car, how long it'd take to fix and the likelihood of it breaking down again. There's no $100 service fee for him to take a look at the car, cause he didn't have to. $100 saved right there! In a more general sence, the quality of manufacturing has taken a nose dive in the last 20-30 years. I know, I'm only 23, but all of my stereo (with exception of my cd player) is all pre-1980s. My guitar amps are all 1950-1970s. My car (when it's finished) will date from 1967-1982 (it's a mutt of a car). My camera is from 1983. I know what manufacturing was like before I was born.

Take another example. It the heyday of film, you could buy at least 4 different kinds of black and white film, each with a choice of film speed, from Kodak alone. There's many other makers of black and white film. In color film, the numbers are even higher! Digital cameras, however, you've got many manufacturers, but the sensors are multi-speed, multi-purpose, technically perfect, but (in my opinion) mediocre at best.

If this trend continues, we'll transition from a bunch of unique individuals to a blob of mindless persons that think alike and do everything the same way and pretend to know everything about everything but in reality, know very little. Gone are creativity and innovation that birthed this nation. Forward progress will be stifled because no one is allowed to think differently. People will become more concerned with keeping others in line than encouraging the new. Art and innovation as we know it, will die.



If any of you have done a study on the hierarchy of needs, you'd know that I'm no longer nearly as busy as I used to be if I have time to write things like this. :)



Now for the technical explanation. When a string is played (be it plucked, struck or whatever), you hear a combination of notes. You hear the fundamental, which is the overwhelming tone. You also hear at a lower volume, a tone one octave higher. At a still lower volume, a tone 1 1/3 octaves higher, and still lower, 2 octaves higher. These are called harmonics. The one 1 octave higher is the 2nd harmonic, followed by the 3rd, 4th etc. This continues up to the limits of human hearing but is usually so low in volume that not much is heard after the 6th harmonic. Harmonics are easier for guitar players to understand. When you place your finger lightly on the string at the 12th fret, you isolate the 2nd harmonic. 7th fret is the 3rd harmonic and 5th fret is the 4th harmonic.
When the string is played, especially hard, it vibrates. When the middle of the string swings back and forth, the string stretches slightly. This raises the pitch of the harmonics, more so the higher the harmonic. If tuned mathematically perfect, the lowest notes of the piano will sound slightly sharp when compared to notes near middle C. The highest notes will sound flat because of the harmonics of the notes near middle C. Thus, as you go down from middle C, the strings are tuned progressively flatter to offset this and progressively sharper as you go higher. By adjusting within the scale, you align the harmonics of different notes so that particular combination sound good together, at the expense of other combination. Or, you can purposely detune some notes for a fuller, chorus effect. This is also easier for guitar players to try. On a 12 string guitar, tune the guitar to a tuner and try playing. Then, take one of the high B strings and one of the high E strings and tweak it slightly. It adds fullness. When done to the extreme, it sounds like a honky tonk piano.

JP OUT!