Here are a few other tips for picking up speed (besides learning to listen and start moving the lever quickly after the initial attack of the note, which I think I first heard about from Ron Nossaman). Everyone has different methods, and some will disagree with mine, and to that I say, "Try it all, keep what works for you, and ignore what doesn't."
1. If using an ETD with auto note switching (which is most ETDs most of the time): When you finish one unison and it's time to move to the next one, play the note with the left hand while you place the mute with your right hand. The time it takes to move the mute into proper position is usually about how long it takes for the ETD to "listen" and auto-switch to the next note. This seems like a no-brainer, but some tuners will not instinctively do this, and will only start to play the note being tuned once the mute has been inserted and ready to start tuning the note with hand on lever. In doing so, they are wasting time by waiting for the ETD's auto-switching function to change to the new note when they could be tuning.
2. Use a Papp's treble mute for uprights. They are especially fast when "tuning unisons as you go," but also great for checking unisons after a tuning. Once you get the hang of it, you can very quickly mute any one or two strings of any unison with a quick motion that takes less than a second. A lot of tuners have never used one, or when they try one for the first time, they give up on it too quickly before getting comfortable with it. Usually, about an octave below the tenor/treble break, the string angle and spacing will allow switching from a split rubber mute to the Papp's mute. It's simply the most efficient way to mute treble strings on uprights, and will reduce your upright tuning time.
3. For newer tuners, I believe that a heavier, metal-shafted tuning lever is an unnecessary handicap that will lengthen the amount of time it takes to learn how to tune with proper technique. A lighter, stiffer (carbon fiber) tool will make it easier to sense tuning pin friction and string frictions. The lower inertia and stiffness of a carbon fiber shafted tool will allow for more controlled, finer rotations of the tuning pin. This allows faster development of the skills needed to achieve solid and stable unisons efficiently. To the beginner I always suggest to buy, borrow or steal a carbon fiber shafted lever, because you will improve at a much faster rate.
4. Don't spend too long on that one string that refuses to be tuned. We sometimes go into auto-pilot and a few minutes later, realize that we've been fighting with the same stupid wire for 3 minutes, because it's not responding to our "normal" tuning techniques. Learning to recognize these "problem" wires quickly instead of fighting with them for too long will help cut down your tuning time. It could be just poor seating at the bridge, which can sometimes be improved with a quick effort. But often it is frictions on the pin/block, or on the string (often under string felt), that make it impossible to get the wire in tune - it's like trying to balance something on a knife edge and it keeps falling to one side or the other no matter what you do. A more radical technique is needed to disrupt the friction causing the stubbornness. Usually, raising and/or lowering the string tension by an exaggerated amount (beyond what you would normally do when tuning) can break the wire or pin free from what is binding it, and the problem goes away completely, and you can now finish tuning the unison perfectly in seconds instead of minutes. A drop of CLP massaged into the wire at the under-string felt can also provide an instant cure when the string is binding on the felt, but the use of lubricants on strings is a controversial subject, and the mere mention of it is likely to cause fits of rage and an increase in blood pressure. Therefore, I'm not actually suggesting doing it, nor am I admitting to ever having done it. But "I've heard that" it can sometimes make an impossibly stubborn wire tune like butter.
Beyond that, the most effective way to improve in both speed and quality is to concentrate on your technique and actively focus on everything you are doing, analyzing every movement and how the piano responds to each. We all go into the "auto-pilot" mode from time to time, where we let the subconscious take over the tuning while we think about something other than tuning. There is nothing wrong with that, because it's not possible to remain ultra-focused all day long without burning out. But we do not improve when we are coasting along in that unfocused state, not challenging our brains. Just like practicing the piano, we can go through the motions and practice for hours and achieve very little, or even make negative progress. Sometimes we just end up reinforcing bad habits and techniques, like continuing to practice the same wrong note instead of digging in and correcting the problem with proper discipline. The brain can do absolutely amazing things if we get out of the way and let it do it's thing, but we must remove those barriers that limit achievement. The fastest learning methods sometimes are counter-intuitive and often uncomfortable. Also, the very instant you start believing in limitations, you are destined to be held back by them. When you say, "I don't think I could ever do that," you're right - you just sealed that fate and prevented yourself from ever doing it because you've just made the decision that it's not possible. When some more experienced technician tells you that you won't be any good until you've tuned X hundreds (or thousands) of pianos, or spent Y number of years in training, you have a choice: You can believe that garbage, or you can ignore it and discover your own true learning pace, which could very well be lightning-fast. We all learn at different rates, but more often than not, we are learning far more slowly than we ought to be, because the part of our brain that doubts our abilities gets in the way of the part of the brain that is capable of epic achievement - the part that allows autistic savants to paint an entire city from memory after seeing just a photo, or doing incredible math that the rest of us would need a calculator to do (much more slowly), etc.
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Mark Purney
WRVP
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-28-2017 20:44
From: Benjamin Sanchez
Subject: Tips for the Efficient Tuner
Hello All,
Ive been collecting quite a few tips for tuning more efficiently, and have put them together in a blog, here.
Enjoy! Hopefully they will be as much use to you as they were to me.
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Benjamin Sanchez
Professional Piano Services
(805)315-8050
www.professional-piano-services.com
BenPianoPro@comcast.net
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