Abstract
Piano tuning is known to be difficult because the stiffness of piano strings causes the tones produced to be inharmonic. Aural tuning is time consuming and requires the help of a professional. This motivates the question of whether this process can be automated. Attempts at automatic tuning are usually assessed by comparing the Railsback curve of the results with the curve of a professional tuner. In this paper we determine a simple and reliable rule for tuning the high tones of a piano with the help of a listening test. This rule consists of matching the two tones in an octave interval so that the first partial frequency of the upper tone becomes exactly the same as the second partial frequency of the lower tone. This rule was rated best among four tuning rules that were compared in the test. The results found are explained using a beat-based analysis, and are consistent with some previous studies. They are also tested against the existing method of using Railsback curves, and it is shown that comparison using Railsback curves is an unreliable method of assessing different tunings. The findings from this paper can be used to create a complete automatic tuner that could make the process of piano tuning quick and inexpensive.
Highlights
Pianos cannot be tuned like other string instruments
Different tunings were generated for notes above F4, as the goal of this study was to focus on the tuning of high tones of the piano
The main outcome of this research is a simple rule for tuning high tones of a piano
Summary
The strings of a piano have a significant stiffness which causes the tones produced to be inharmonic [1,2,3,4]. This means that the partials above the fundamental have a frequency which is slightly higher than the expected integral multiple of the fundamental. Due to the shifted frequency of the partials, the frequency ratio of known intervals is changed. Tuning is not as simple as tuning every string to a known fundamental frequency, as is the case with most other string instruments. Professional tuners listen to the tones produced by each key of a piano, and make them in tune with an already tuned tone, at some interval from it, based on their experience
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
