Music · Rung 9 of 14

Tuning

Tuning is adjusting one note until it matches another. It is measured in cents: a hundred to the semitone, so an octave is twelve hundred. A trained ear notices five or six cents; an untrained one, about twenty. The trick is not hearing pitch, it is hearing beats: two nearly identical notes produce a pulsing that slows as they approach and vanishes when they meet. Piano tuners work by counting those beats, not by watching a device.

Where this sits

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High and low

Exercises from this rung

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  1. How is the second note against the first?

    • Slightly flat
    • Very flat
    • In tune
    • Slightly sharp

    Why It was flat by 25 cents. A hundred cents make a semitone; a trained ear notices five or six. The trick is not hearing pitch but hearing beats, that pulsing that slows as they approach.