The fine art of harmony
The complexities of fine tuning
Our old upright piano needed tuning every year or so. The treble notes had three strings each, and each of them needed careful adjustment, not only to the right pitch but to each other. In addition the the upper notes had to be tuned slightly sharp and the lowest notes tuned slightly flat. No wonder we always called in an expert!
Our local expert was a Scot who in a long career had regularly tuned Steinway pianos for the classical piano performers who came to Wellington, New Zealand. He told us about another extra complication of tuning. Even when the tuning was perfect (and all piano tuners would agree their colleagues had done a perfect job), each could impose an individual style detectable to colleagues but probably not to an expert performer. This added subtle beats to each note – countable, at several per second. Different tuners chose different beats per second. Our tuner declared he could always tell which of the small handful of local tuners had tuned a piano!
A precisely controlled and conforming life may be paradise for some people but highly threatening to others. Maybe conformity makes us feel comfortable or safe, but others may view conformity as mindless cloning and want to break free to live their own lives at all costs.
Rather like piano strings, we need to be tuned both to those people closest to us but also and independently tuned to others about us while maintaining our own distinctiveness – a balancing act.
And the really expert tuner of the universe will ensure we retain our unique sound.
Don’t be afraid! If you are perfectly tuned, the music you make will be perfect! And the master tuner will have given you just the right number of beats per second to not only make you distinctive but also identify himself as the master tuner.