v.15

It is very hard to define what makes a good low bass octave, especially on poorly designed pianos.

For this reason, the student will be marked more on what they say they are tuning as opposed to just whether or not the bass note is tuned correctly.

For example, in step 3B below, if the partial you say you tuned out is beating, you will be asked to retune that note again and resubmit.

If you tune the natural beat pure, and then the high partial pure, and say you like the natural pure beat better and retune the octave to be a natural pure beat, but the two octaves (the first clean natural beat and the 2nd clean natural beat) are different sizes, you will be asked to resubmit.

There may be times when the examiner believes the octave you choose is not the best one. They will try to explain why, but you may be asked to resubmit anyway.

RECORDING/TUNING PROCEDURE

1. Start recording.

2. Tune the octave as a clean natural beat, listening to the natural beat, the beating of the fundamental of the lowest note.

3. There may be a high partial beating. If you hear a high partial beating, do steps a) to e) below. If you do not hear a high partial beating, just say so and move on to step 4.

a) Indicate which partial is beating. If you hear two or more, just pick one.
Options for identifying beating partial:
i) Say the note name. Example: C1-C2 with a beating 10:5, say, “E4”
ii) Say the partials. Example: C1-C2 with a beating 10:5, say, “10:5”
iii) Play the note that is beating. Example: C1-C2 with a beating 10:5, play the E4.

b) Retune the octave so that the partial you indicated that was beating, is now beatless.

c) Say which octave size you like better; the clean natural beat (1st ocatve tuned), or the octave with the high partial you identified not beating. (2nd octave tuned)

d) If you liked the 2nd octave tuned, do nothing. If you liked the 1st octave tuned, the pure natural beat, tune the octave back to the pure natural beat.

e) Go to step 4

4. Play the bottom note alone

5. Play P8, P12, P19, and P22. Start by playing the top note alone.

Example: Tuning C1-C2.
i) Play C1
ii) Play C2
iii) Play C1-C2 (P8)
iv) Play G2
v) Play C1-G2 (P12)
vi) Play G3
vii) Play C1-G3 (P19)
viii) Play C4
ix) Play C1-C4 (P22)

NOTES:
P12: listen for a clean 3:1. The 6:2 may be beating very fast. Leave it.
P19: listen for a clean 6:1. The 12:2 may be beating very fast. Leave it.
For the P12 and the P19, if there is a fast beating 2nd coincident partial, it has to be endured; tuning it pure will cause the 1st coincident partial to beat and that will just make the interval sound worse. If the 2nd coincident partial is beating slowly, you may be able to tune it so that the 1st and 2nd coincident partials are each beating minimally. If you decide to tune to minimize the beating at the 1st and 2nd partials, indicate what you are doing on the recording.

The examiner will pass or fail each interval for each note and then make a decision on whether to pass the note or not, based on how all the intervals score and sound. You are always free to disagree with the examiner and the note will pass, but is understood that you will not lie about what you hear or what the examiner brings to your attention if it helps you see why the note should fail.