etd's and ears

[David Andersen]

comments interspersed....but first, I want to say:  Ron, I have  
tremendous respect for you, and have enjoyed virtually all of your  
posts these last few years; I'm sorry you missed the point of my post  
so completely; I would never denigrate your skills or the skills of  
anybody who uses the ETD as a powerful tool and as an ADJUNCT to  
their ears, their body, their
intuition. You missed my point, brother....read on below.....

On Feb 14, 2007, at 1:04 PM, Ron Koval wrote:

>> From David Anderson:
> ">
>> "But, today's ETDs will definitely give a more than acceptable   
>> tuning. So, nearly everyone will be happy."
>
>> Except the tuner, who's trying to see himself/herself as an  
>> artisan,  a craftsperson, and knows that he/she just phoned it in."
Meaning, if you  remember the entire statement, the quote was saying  
that using the machine ONLY from the bottom to the top would result  
in a "more than acceptable" tuning. My point was that's not craft,  
that's a rote machine protocol---not great, not personalized, but not  
bad---not the context I want to live in and promote. The phoning it  
in is what I object to, NOT the use of the machine.
>
> David, while I applaud the passion for your craft, I am insulted by  
> the tone you take for a whole group of technicians that have chosen  
> a different path from yours.  Your statement makes it sound like  
> aurally finding the tuning is the only art in tuning.
NO. absolutely not. Please don't be insulted; and it's not a  
different path; you and I are on the exact SAME path:
we're both passionate, obviously, about creating a great, musical,  
solid tuning.


> How about placing that tuning on a piano so it stays?  How about  
> shaping the unisons?
Exactly.  Huge components of the craft, and neither having anything  
to do with ETDs.

> Getting a machine and turning it on is only the starting point to  
> using it to the fullest potential.
Again, EXACTLY. Machine as tool: good. Machine as tuner and crutch: bad.
>
>> "The tunings  I've heard that were strictly by looking at the  
>> wheel or the dial or  whatever---to me---suck. Average. Brittle- 
>> sounding."
>
> Fair enough... Look me up next time you come to Chicago and I'll  
> let you hear something that may change your mind.  Just as there  
> are some aural only folks that push the boundaries of the craft,  
> there exist some technicians committed to pushing the boundaries of  
> tuning using etd's.  It isn't merely trying to follow the path of  
> aural tuning, but finding new paths that lead to higher level tunings.
	I love the fact that you're pushing the boundaries of tuning using  
ETDs. Go. And I'll love to hear the results, if it creates, or helps  
to create, beautiful, emotional, soaring, rock-solid tunings.
>
> I'll try not to denigrate your chosen path...  please don't  
> denigrate mine.
I never have, and never will.  I hope you really understand what I  
was saying now; if I wasn't this clear before, I apologize.
>
> Ron Koval
> Chicagoland

David Andersen
Malibuland
>
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