PIANO TUNING

Stanwood Piano Touch Weight Metrology

February 2, 2009

Stanwood Piano Touch Weight Metrology™

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I was fortunate as a young man to be accepted into the North Bennet Street School (NBSS) Boston MA, Piano Technology Program by Bill Garlick the Piano Technology Program Director (department head) then at North Bennet. As all the good gifts we enjoy in this life I spent the following seemingly brief semesters among many talented young piano technology students at the North Bennet Street School which also included a then young David Stanwood, friend, colleague, and classmate that same year at North Bennet, technology program for piano. Stanwood is now also a long time North Bennet Street School Alumni.

Mr Stanwood, over many years, has placed a great deal of time and effort into his craft career and love for pianos.

This is about Stanwood Inovation Inc, Piano Touch Weight Metrology, a wonderful video presentation.

Mr Stanwood starts out by saying

My name is David Stanwood, President of Stanwood Piano Innovations.

Our shop is on Martha’s Vineyard, in the town of West Tisbury.
I’ve always had a passion for pianos, always loved pianos.

narration
David Stanwood’s passion for pianos lead him to question why even on some of the worlds best instruments the feel of the keyboard was sometimes inconsistent from note to note.
While training to be a piano technician at Boston’s North Bennet Street School Mr. Stanwood asked what could be done to improve pianos who’s actions didn’t feel right.

Stanwood
And the answer was, well-a – that’s not that easy.
So there really wasn’t an answer. That drove me to experiment and discover.

narration
The science of weights and measures is called Metrology.
Mr Stanwood’s quest lead him to develop a fundamental system and methodology for balancing piano action, something he called “the new touch weight Metrology.”

Stanwood
What was missing in pianos, was a metrology which explains the balance of piano actions in a whole way.

narration
Unlike a violinist who can carry his or her whole instrument on tour, the concert pianist must travel from hall to hall, playing on a variety of instruments, often with inconsistent playing action.

Stanwood
The equality of the mechanism of the piano can either act to support the pianist or it can act as a barrier to their art, and my quest has been to discover now what is the mystery in that mechanic of that keyboard what happens between the musical thought and the finger where it touches the key and the sound that comes out.
There’s a lot of stuff that goes on in this mechanism and that really shouldn’t be an issue for the pianist, they should have a thought and should be able to think it and express it in sound.

narration
The piano keyboard is a system of stepped weights. The hammers at the bass end are larger and heavier than the hammers at the treble end. The pianist expects the keys to feel consistent along the length of the keyboard much as we expect each of the steps in a stair case to be of the same depth and height.

Stanwood

Now a Pianist has the task not only to walk up and down the staircase but they have to dance up and down their stair case and do it artistically and do all these fancy things.

narration
The action for each of a pianos 88 keys acts in a series of movements much like a catapult, where the press of a key begins a rapid series of increasingly magnified movements through the key stick, the repetition or whippen, and the shank eventually catapulting the felt tipped hammer into the string. Engineers refer to this set of connected mechanisms as a folded beam.

Stanwood
Now here we have the analogy of the piano action which pivots, the main pivot is on the balance of the key, the finger goes down a little bit and the hammer goes up a lot. We have the same analogy the same pivot point, this goes down a little and that goes up a lot.

narration
Using one gram blocks to illustrate the balance beam analogy Mr Stanwood first weighs the hammer and shank mechanism a measurement called the strike weight.

Stanwood
..and ten grams out on the end, this would be the measurement of the weight of the hammer, and the way we would measure this in the piano would be taking the part off and actually tipping it and there we have ten point two grams(10.2).

narration
The process of weighing each component of each of the 88 key mechanisms continues with the whippen also known as the repetition.
It is followed by the key stick which is weighed by balancing it at it’s pivot point. This measurement is called the front weight.

Stanwood
We’ve measured the strike weight and that’s the weight out here – o k. We’ve measured the whippen radius weight. We’ve measured how far it is by measuring the ratio, playing the ten gram weight and seeing how it translates. We’ve measured the front weight by tipping the key on the scale, that would be this weight, o k. We’ve measured the balance weight by measuring up weight and down weight and averaging it by mid-point, that would be this weight.
We have an equation here that has one two three four five six variables. We’ve measured everything except one and thats how far out and thats the ratio.

narration
Mr Stanwood’s equation of balance is written as

balance weight + front weight = whippin weight x the key ratio + the strike weight x the strike ratio.

For the key mechanism measured here the formula would be

38 grams + 27.1 grams = 18 grams x .5 + 10.2 grams x 5.5

The primary use of the equation of balance is to fine tune and perfect the front weight, the variable that makes the key invisible to the player.
All of the data collected in the weighing of each of the 88 keys is then entered into the computer. The data is then analyzed to determine whether individual components should be made lighter by trimming or made heavier
by having weights strategically placed to achieve balance.

Stanwood
Now we’re gonna look at the Jordan Hall Piano, (at the computer) This is a Hamburg Steinway D
It’s a Jordan Hall, and this is the weight of the strike weight as from the factory (looking at the computer) and you can see that there’s a big bump, it gets very low here,
This is the ratio that we calculated using the equation of balance.
The next major component is the lead weight, that’s what you have to throw when you play the key and that can be measured by measuring the front weight where you tipped the key on the scale, erst the measurement of the front weight.

We added what’s called a whippen support spring so we use a combination of the lead weight and the spring and you can see that the effect is that we can use much less lead. So now we have a keyboard where the inertial weights (the stepped weights) are very uniform from step to step, no surprises.

The ultimate goal in the piano action is to really make the mechanism disappear, and have the hammers in your fingers – I mean that would be the ultimate goal, just not even think about the fact that there’s five thousand parts in between you and your performance.
You can just feel like you are right to it.
Connected to the hammer, that’s what we’re after here.

For more information

Contact

http://www.stanwoodpiano.com/first.htm

Piano Florida State University Piano Technology

February 1, 2009

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series PIANO FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY ( F S U ) PIANO TECHNOLOGY

Piano Technology at

Florida State Univerity FSU

This is a terrific series about Piano Technology at Florida State University ( F S U ) a comprehensive public University containing it’s own College of Music in Tallahassee Florida U S A.

Anne Garee is the current Program Director, Piano Technology Department Head College of Music Florida State University Tallahassee Florida U S A . http://music.fsu.edu/garee.htm

The following Florida State University Piano Technology thread was started December 2006 to February 2008.

FSU Piano Technology Program Director Anne Garee begins by saying -

This piano was on its side for many years waiting patiently for it’s moment and the moment was fall semester 2006.

Anne felt it was a good candidate and very interesting journey. It had served in the College of Music actually since it was purchased in 1954.

Each project is totally unique and presents its own specific challenges which makes it a very interesting journey.

(Anne continuing)

My mother was a pianist and a professional musician. She was a theory professor at Oberlin Conservatory before she married my physicist father.

My father the physicist, my mother the musician is actually a synthesis of what I do now. It is really the unique combination that we bring to piano technology and was fortunate to have these two forces in my life. they were so supportive in choices we made in career path because obviously you don’t grow up to be a piano technician. Those of us in this field typically come to it by accident and sort of fall into it.

In the field there is a real shortage of training opportunities. Typically people get their information in a very patchwork fashion, um, a bit like here and a bit there and it was always my dream to provide some, a cottified way to accelerate peoples training so that they didn’t have the circuitous route than most of us have taken and because of the comprehensive nature of our music school and the breadth of the program material it was an ideal setting for a program such as this.

Jennifer Roberts

(Jennifer Roberts is a graduate student in the Florida State University FSU College of Music, Piano Technology program) said

I heard about the program when I was studying in Canada. I did my primary training at the University of Western Ontario and we were all looking for options after we left, we either worked in our own business or we worked for somebody else and I heard about this program down here as being really structured and intensive training program.

Amy Porter

(Amy Porter isa Graduate Student at the Florida State university (FSU) College of Music, Piano Technology) continues saying

It’s very much like a job. We are graduate assistants here in the College of Music and so we have (both Jenifer and myself) um, look after about fifty pianos, each year, each semester, we run through our list of instruments, um, some are in practice rooms, some are in faculty studios, halls, um, we have our own assignments that we look after and as well as tuning a harpsicord on a weekly basis.

Jennifer said

One thing that I found particularly challenging on this piano was the fact ,uh, that it had a lot of problems straight from the factory, so when it came to us it had a lot of geometrical flaws, and in that sense it’s been a great piano to learn the restoration process.

(alernating), Amy said

We brought it in the shop and got to play on it. It was terribly out of tune it was very heavy (the touch was very heavy.)

Jennifer-

The first thing we noticed was that the action was extremely heavy. It was hard to play. If you think of a teeter-totter you know – the hammers on one end and the keys on the other and, you know, you want a certain relationship between these two in order for it to perform properly, it’s going to be, i f you have to much weight on one side it’s going to be not pleasant to push on the other.

The pin block

The pin block is quite a thick piece of wood at the front of the grand piano and it is what the tuning pins are embedded into. It is the secure anchor.

The strings were rusty and quite decrepied.

The bridge needed some restoration, the soundboard was pretty ugly, the plate needed refinishing.

One thing that we spent a lot of time on was the lettering of the plate. It’s a part that some people just use a marker to paint them we actually decided to use some black laquer and a paint brush and do it the old fashion way.

Anne finishes up saying-

The ultimate goal is of course that they are confident that they can go anywhere.

The world needs wonderful piano technicians, The piano is a cornerstone instrument. There are not enough people doing it well.

Jennifer-

There are a lot of opportunities hat have come other from the contacts I have made through this program. I would like to be able to work in a University to have the access to talented faculty members and to be able to work with students.

Amy-

The program has really taken me to a different level of technical ability and I’m hoping that will open a few more doors, more opportunities to practice my craft.

Amy-

As often as I can I like to play and keep my fingers moving and remember why I’m restoring pianos in the first place.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

contact

http://music.fsu.edu/pianotech.htm

Dr Sanderson Accu-Tuner

January 31, 2009

I first met Dr Sanderson in 1977 at the North Bennet Street School in Boston MA.

Sanderson had been receiving instruction from our instructor the head of the Piano Technology Department (Bill Garlick) and simultaneously working on his Sight-o-Tuner (soon to become the Accu-Tuner in later incarnations.)

Bill Garlick had such great ears that in the 1970s he acted as the barometer for Dr Sanderson’s work and during Sanderson’s visit to our school one morning it became apparent that Bill Garlick was invaluable in aiding Sanderson’s work on the early Accu-Tuner.

The Boston Globe has provided the following information.

Albert E. Sanderson, a Harvard instructor whose piano-tuning device changed the art 30 years ago,
died of cancer Sunday at Concord Park in West Concord. He was 80 and had lived in Carlisle most of his life. Dr Sanderson

He held many patents, including eight for his Accu-Tuner for piano.

Born in Bethlehem, Pa., Mr. Sanderson was the eldest of three brothers. His father was an engineer for Bethlehem Steel before moving to Boston, where he became a professor at Northeastern University.

Dr. Sanderson and his wife, Mary (McGettigan), were married for 59 years.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1949 and his master’s degree in engineering and physics in 1950, all from Harvard, before working as an electronics engineer for Aircraft Radio Corp. in New Jersey and General Radio Co. of Concord.

Dr. Sanderson received a doctorate in applied physics from Harvard University in 1969.

From 1960 to 1973, he was director of the Harvard Electronics Design Center, which made custom instruments for Harvard research departments. He also taught engineering and physics at Harvard for eight years

Mr. Sanderson decided he could figure out how to tune his piano. He took tuning lessons and dreamed up a device that used mathematical formulas to measure how true a piano’s tuning was.

In 1972, he launched Inventronics Inc., now in Tyngsborough, to handle the licensing of patents and manufacturing of inventions, including the Sanderson Accu-Tuner.

Among early fans of the device was Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler. “It is a remarkable instrument which every tuner should have and which every orchestra, music director, and those who tune their own instruments could well use,” Fiedler wrote in a 1974 testimonial letter.

The response from piano tuners was lukewarm. Mr. Sanderson hit the convention circuit and trade shows to promote his invention and to try to convince professional tuners that he wasn’t trying to replace them.

“He developed an instrument that matched the ear in many ways,” his son Paul said. “He’d never say it was better, but he would say it was a great aid to the ear.”

His sons’ most enduring memory of their father is of a hardworking man clutching a pencil and legal pad.

“He always seemed to have something, an equation or some sort of problem, he was solving,” David said.

In addition to his wife, sons, and brother, Mr. Sanderson leaves another brother, Richard of Peterborough, N.H.; two daughters, Linda Dwyer of Hadley and Kathryn Fox of Upton; and 11 grandchildren.

VERITUNE …A BETTER WAY…

May 21, 2008

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series VERITUNE ...A BETTER WAY...

VERITUNE …a better way…

This is a terrific series presented from Chicago land by Drwoodwind

Part one (one of six) is a video using the Verituner to tune a piano in the confines of a practice room somewhere in ‘Chicagoland’.

Drwoodwind said it’s January outside of Chicago, it’s a Mason & Hamilton upright, indoor humidity is 21% so naturally it’s pretty flat

Today I’m going to try and pitch raise and fine tune as efficiently as possible using the Verituner. I will display all three over pulls, so it’s roughly 10% in this area, 25% in this area and 35% overpull in this area

The goal is to, after the first pass, be as close to a fine tuning as we can be so there is minimum adjustment left to be done for that final pass

The Verituner needs to get some information, it will update it’s information as we go (in real time)

so…..

it’s about 20 % err- 20 cents flat, I’m working to fill the [ I ] (Inharmonicity) I’m on the medium ‘zoom’ right now and I’m actually going to start these about half way between the first two arrows. I only have the needle displayed A3 A4 is in the ‘bracket’ for the temperment. I’ll go ahead and give it A5 so it knows about what (Inharmonicity) is there

And now it’s a matter of going through the piano giving it the information it needs to fill those [ I's ]

Notice how I sound the note first to let the VERITUNER start calculating before I even move the hammer

starting at about twelve o’clock over here taking my time in this temperment section to try and fill the [ I ]

This should work for any style even the built in styles or one of my custom styles (one for all)

I’m measuring the right string, when I come back and tune this piano for good, I’ll be working on the left string over-pull

Again

this isn’t so much a ‘tuning’ pass as a ‘measuring’ pass until we reach the bass strings, just while I’m working I might as well get something done.

If you are ‘close’ you can use the ‘ zoom ‘

I’ll go ahead and pull the unisons for these three strings (in the bass section) here

Notice it was a miss measure over-pull but I know that I was just over pulling the previous note less than a cent.

SOFTWARE PIANOS

April 30, 2008

SOFTWARE

SOFTWARE PIANOS

Not sure about a real piano, the time is right to concider a sampled piano and choices abound! Practically speaking a real piano isn’t always ‘practical’. If you seem to have more computer space than the room for a good sized piano take heart as a guide herein tells all. TruePianos offers up a three piano package for a multi-core or Power PC G5 Mac, simple interface of presets for each module sonic adjustment as well as tuning adjustment. The sound is ‘dry’ with no room acoustics. 40 day demo is available on

Service Galaxy ll an upgrade from Galaxy Steinway,

offers up a Steinway D Bösendorfer Imperial 290

and a Blüthner 150.Multisampled and miked for

surround and stereo is a treat.Strong at jazz classic or pop and smooth up seven octaves

I have previously covered the Blüthner Digital model one earlier

Native Instruments Akoustic Piano provide a Steinway D a Bechstein D 280, a Bösendorfer 290 and a Steigräver 130. 10 velocity levels on each note and tuning available (cool

Pianoteq v2.2 is not sample based but modeled.As modeled hammers resonance sustain stacato and a host of other variables as well as size.Very good considering its nor sampled. 45 day demo

Sampletekk is 24bit multisampled fair in a library format all listed on their website include 7CG Yamaha, Black Grand-Steinway D, PMI Bösendorfer 290, PMI Estonia 9 ft, Pmi Hybrid, Pmi Old Lady 1923 D, Pmi Steinway D Pmi The Emperor Bösendorfer 290, PMI Yamaha C7, SG88 MKll,The Big One Yamaha C7 and White Grand 9 Ft Malmsjö Concert Grand

Steinberg The Grand 2 are a dry mix of two large well known pianos in anechoic chamber (I can still hear Dr Wright on that one) I would like to present this in a future post Synthology Ivory 9ft D Börsendorfer 290 Yamaha C7 all with 10 velocity levels Vienna Symphonic Library Börsendorfer 290 multisampled 7 velocities quite possibly the best in its class

Find a wealth of information

and help

on these

and more

SOUND ON SOUND

MARYLAND MD

March 30, 2008

Maryland MD BSO Sets the Stage for Learning

In Baltimore Maryland, beginning in 2007, BSO Music Director Marin Alsop said I’m pleased that the Baltimore Symphony agrees with my philosophy on mentoring and we’re proud to announce a brand a new conducting initiative. We’re collaborating with Peabody Conservatory and the League of American Orchestras in creating a brand new position for a talented young conductor. It’ll be a two year program where the young conductor will conduct the Baltimore Symphony, attend Peabody Conservatory and get real hands on experience. We’ve already selected the first recipient of the award, Joe Young, and so…you’ll see him around the concert hall and you’ll probably even see him on the podium now and then

I want to enable people to feel really connected to composers. That’s one of the reasons I’ve invited so many living composers here, we’re going to speak to them. We have a series called composers in conversation which will be on Wednesday evening and also I want people to feel connected to Beethoven. So I’m really obsessed with these forensic shows, I don’t know if anybody else is. I decided the best way to get to know Beethoven would be to do a forensic autopsy on him and so I’ve invited scientists from Johns Hopkins to join me and we’re going to sort of dissect him, I hate to say that, but dissect Beethoven in front of the audience for two evenings. We’ll have the whole orchestra there, We’re going to play his music, we’re going to analyze what elements lead to his hearing loss, what kind of mental state and just generally what conditions lead to his greatness

Part of my vision is to try to take advantage of all the new technologies we have available to us. Fortunately we’ve already embarked on a brand new recording initiative making records for Naxos and for Sony records. We’re starting a series of pod casts for iTunes and we’re also featured on XM radio

Marin Alsop on conducting

I’ve always wanted to be a conductor, I’ve wanted to be a conductor since I was nine years old, and, my mother and father are both professional musicians. I had to be a musician there was really no choice about that but when my father took me to see Lenard Bernstein conduct the New York Philharmonic when I was I guess nine years old. As soon a I saw him I thought, oh – this is what I want to do, so I never changed my mind from then and I fell in love with him, I fell in love with the idea of conducting. It was a dream I harbored for all those years and it took a while to figure out how to be a conductor actually

And you know as a violin you play one line you know and I mean and it’s really critical but it’s just one line contributing to music that has, you know-one hundred things going on at once and I think for me the idea of being responsible for the architecture, you know-the whole experience the emotional journey the quality of sound the vision the piecing and everything, thats what appealed to me always and I think I was always one of those kids, even if I was bad at a sport was always the captain of the team and I think this idea of galvanizing people and hopefully inspiring them to come together and do their best as a team was something that always appealed to me and thats really what conducting is all about. I think that it’s really important that we feature along side very established well known artists, young talented emerging artists because of course, like with the composers that I’m featuring this year, they were once aspiring composers. Now they’re really the leading composers of the day and the artists that we feature will also be the leading artists of tomorrow and it’s nice I think for our audience and for our musicians to sort of get in on the ground floor as their elevator is rising so to speak

This is definitely the highlight of my career so far having a wonderful time with the musicians of the Baltimore Symphony, we’re going to create something brand new some kind of excitement. We’re trying to bring classical music to everybody, bring it back to where it used to be where it was part of everybody’s lives..it was accessible, it was fun, it was interesting, engaging and we feel that we’re just part of the community, we’re owned by the greater Baltimore community and so we want to be available to everybody so people can access the symphony to what ever degree they want

for more information or how to support the Maryland MD Baltimore Symphony Orchestra please visit

www.bsomusic.org

www.bsokids.com

VIRGINIA VA

March 28, 2008

Virginia Va Wolf Trap Sets The Stage For Learning

In Vienna Virginia, for over twenty-five years Wolf Trap has helped close the gap that has historically left children of primarily disadvantaged areas behind other children.

Miriam Flahnerty Willis Senior Director of Education, Wolf Trap Foundation said Wolf Trap Institute for early learning through the arts brings professional performing artists who are teaching artists into classrooms to work directly with teachers and our youngest children, children three four and five years old in preschool settings across the country

Each year Wolf Trap teaching artists work with early childhood educators to develop classroom learning experiences that provide their students with critical developmental skills and competencies they need for success in school and in life

Carol Bellamy an education manager for head start says children are different learners, children learn in different ways. Some children are kinesthetic learners, they like to move. Some children are auditory learners so those skills need to be fine tuned.

At a glance what looks like a simple arts activity is in reality a learning experience supporting multiple areas of development for the children

Krissie Marty a teaching artist said we did serialization, we did steady beat counting. The children… their pre-literacy skills included sequencing, recalling, comprehension, sub-phonetic awareness using their vocabulary

Learning through the arts, its a model for early childhood education that has made the Wolf Trap Institute for early learning for the arts, a leader for communities across the nation. More important the research shows it works for children

Douglas Klayman PHD President, Social Dynamics said the result of the research was very positive. We looked at six domains including inititive, social relations, creativity, movement in music, language and literacy and math and science. We found that the children who were part of the Wolf Trap Institute Program did better than the children in the comparison group

Changing teaching! Changing learning and changing lives! I know that no matter what happens within these children, because Wolf Trap is there in their classroom, that they’re forever changed for the better

Daryl Green National Spokes Person, Wolf Trap Foundation says investing in our young children is the best strategy for improving their odds for a brighter future. Your support will make the difference by providing our young children with the skills they need for a lifetime of learning

You can set the stage today for a child tomorrow

To learn how you can help, please contact

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts

Vienna Virginia Va U.S.A.

www.wolftrap.org

WORLD

March 26, 2008

World

All around me are familiar faces Worn out places, worn out faces

Bright and early for their daily races Going nowhere, going nowhere

Their tears are filling up their glasses No expression, no expression

Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny

I find it kind of sad

The dreams in which I’m dying

Are the best I’ve ever had

I find it hard to tell you

I find it hard to take

When people run in circles

It’s a very, very

Mad World

Mad World

Children waiting for the day they feel good Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday

And I feel the way that every child should Sit and listen, sit and listen

Went to school and I was very nervious No one knew me, no one knew me

Hello teacher tell me what’s my lesson Look right through me,

look right through me

and I find it kind of funny

I find it kind of sad

The dreams in which I’m dying

Are the best I’ve ever had

I find it hard to tell you

I find it hard to take

When people run in circles

It’s a very, very…

Enlarging your world

Mad World

by Ear

February 22, 2008

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!