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When any piano tuner you might meet exclaims that he or she is an aural tuner or tunes a piano only “by ear”or uses only the ear with a tuning fork the imagination could run wild thinking what “by ear” could or might mean.
Certainly this master piano tuner laughs thinking how back then when my education stressed traditions and hand me down thinking on the topic of aural tuning which then made a dent in my brain, has now for me been revised as I see in reality more than clear that for tuning a piano I use my arms , back , fingers, legs, eyes, brain, yes basically most all of my body. In other words to be a piano tuner you need all you can get!
Take away a piano tuners arm give him a back injury remove a foot or sever his auditory cortex and the tuner will no doubt be greatly impaired forever compensating for the lack of what might be described as the proper equipment. Yes removing ones eyesight can no doubt be compensated for, but for the sake of argument this tuner feels it would be easier to tune a piano in this day and age without ears than without eyes
Now to return to “by ear ” this video short is in a nut shell the basic workings of the ear- brain and chain of events any listener experiences moment to moment without really to much thought. After a quick view of this well done video short the mechanics of the ear and hearing sound in general seems, well, straight forward. So regretably the piano tuner that thinks with that pride “I tune only by ear” is certainly not looking at the big picture and may find at some point that a worn out elbow or shoulder, without benefit of modern day repair, has suddenly ended his once misplaced pride and well meaning dedication to the service
As for any piano tuner that exclaims that he or she tunes a piano only”by ear” with all the pride they can muster, reporting they feel or experience the soul or passion , or would never use anything but their ears because that has heart, at that point in time really fail to appreciate the rest of the god given equipment that makes the human being a marvel and a wonder without which, piano tuning would be almost impossible
This world offers much to consider that helps all human beings along our way, but without reverence for the big picture, the total package that makes the human condition unique, the myopia of the prideful piano tuners exclamation I tune”by ear” not only is mostly at that moment an exercise in deception but for the most part an overwhelming deafening silence!
