Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1895 — HOW A PIANO IS TUNED. [ARTICLE]

HOW A PIANO IS TUNED.

Simplest Thing in the World When You Know How. “Plunk —plunk—kerchug—twang I —twang—bang!” You have heard these sounds beI fore, though they look a little unj familiar when reproduced on paper. ; They represent the performance of a i piano tuner from an outside and tympanic standpoint. They are the 1 tangible and disagreeable part of the ■ necessary business of putting in tune | an instrument which, alas! too many j people spend a deplorably large i portion of their lives in putting out !of tune.

This business of tuning pianos, which certainly looks rather inys- ; terious as you watch the manner in I which the operator pries up first one | string and then another, sounding | meanwhile a confused jargon of notes, i until the puzzled listener does not know an octave from a fifth is not, however, as difficult and as mysterious as at first it appears. All that is required is an exact ear ' and a few simple tools, viz. : a tuning | fork (usually a U fork), a long, hami mer-like key, and a wedge or mute, j The accuracy of the tuner’s ear is I partly a natural gift, partly the re- ■ suit of long practice. Even the most unpracticed ear can i readily distinguish sound from noise; • sound is produced by regular vibra- ! tions, while noise is a mixture of . sounds thrown together without refI erence to any law. High notes have I a large number of vibrations• per second, while low notes have a small | number. The highest Ais calculated i to have 3,480 vibrations per second, while the lowest A has only 27 1-2. The majority of tuners have adopti ed a method of tuning which includes but two intervals—the octave and ■ the fifth. The ordinary square piano ; has two strings, and most uprights ! have three strings to each note, exi cept in the lower octave. The pitch of one of these strings is tuned in the relation of octave or fifth to some i previous note. The remaining strings are then tuned in unison with the I first string. As the strings reproach ■ unison, a number of strong and rapid I beats or pulsations are perceptible to the ear; as they’ come still closer, the beats become slower, till finally they are no longer to be heard. Then the unison is perfect. The ear in tuning is guided by progression from a confused sound to strong bests, and then from smooth waves to one continuous sound. I nisons and octaves are always tuned perfect—that is, the beats must entirely disappear . In the fifths, when perfectly tuned, there will be neither wave nor beat. It takes generally about three years to learn the business, and a good workman will make from $lB to $35 a week. A few women have been ; employed as tuners with great suc- | cess.