Aural Piano Tuning

There are two general approaches that piano tuner-technicians use when tuning a piano: aural tuning versus visual tuning. I tune aurally, the approach that has been in use since the invention of the piano. Most tuners nowadays tune visually, using a meter (an ETD, or Electronic Tuning Device) to indicate proper pitch for each string.

Either approach can produce excellent results, depending on the training and experience of the tuner and, for the visual tuner, depending on the software algorithm used by the computer in their ETD. I feel that using your ears for the tuning, besides providing accuracy, provides invaluable experience when tuning unisons as well as if, or when, subsequently making judgments about tonal quality for possible voicing (tone regulation) purposes.

My Training & Experience

I received my training in aural tuning from Mark Cerisano at his International Piano Technicians School. I have also studied the approach documented by John Travis in his book "Let's Tune Up". John was the first (co-) president of the national Piano Technicians Guild in 1957 and was based in our DC area.

Aural tuning starts with an understanding of the harmonics (and inharmonicity) of a vibrating string and gaining an understanding of the occurrence of what are called coincident partials when a set of intervals are being used in the tuning. I apprenticed locally under Dr. Norman Brickman, https://potomacpiano.com, a Master Piano Technician (who also has a PhD in physics), and I obtained additional experience working at a local piano store.

The Equal Temperament Approach

I use the industry-standard tuning approach for pianos that was established in the early 1900's that is known as "Equal Temperament," based on A440. It is used by most all tuners. It is more correctly listed as "Twelve-Tone Equal Temperament based on the Octave," or 12-TET. Sometimes exceptions are made to the A440 pitch for certain conditions.

Learn About the Process

If you or a student have an interest in the aural piano tuning process, and perhaps the physics and mathematics that are associated with a vibrating string, allocate time for us to talk when I come to do the tuning. You might be surprised how easy it is for you to hear the harmonics and the "beats" of the intervals that I mentioned above, including the intervals that I use as checks on the accuracy of my tunings.

I can show you how to test the quality of a tuning including listening to the beauty of precise octaves, and how to listen for the precision interval progressions that are one of the characteristics of a piano that has been tuned in Equal Temperament.