Posted by Leland on May 04, 2001 at 19:21:42:
In Reply to: Using the tuner vs.tuning by Ear posted by Jay G on May 04, 2001 at 16:43:33:
Heh... you've opened a can o' worms with this one! :-)
I do think tuners are immensely useful, but they're definitely not the treasure map in the quest for perfect intonation.
Useful to learn what playing unison in tune really sounds like (educational purpose, really -- but not limited to schools), learning how far out of whack your instrument is, and for tuning different instruments at different locations. If, for example, the different sections of an ensemble are warming up separately, they can agree on a tuner setting to use (similar concept to synchronizing watches). I've used a tuner outdoors to find the pitch of keyboard percussion, then taking that setting to the winds for consistent ensemble-wide tuning. Tuners also allow individuals to get to the reference pitch on their own, rather than relying on trying to tune on stage with everyone else (who are also largely out of tune).
But....
Tuners won't account for the subtle pitch changes that are needed in different chords or intervals. Then, tuning by ear becomes necessary. I don't care how that ear is trained to hear good tuning, but it had better be working.
Because of the temperature & weather changes I mentioned, I can't honestly recommend using a tuner always set at A440 or 442 (or whatever) to tune an ensemble (especially outdoors), simply because some players & instruments won't have the room to recover down or up to the tuner's pitch. I would adjust the tuner to accommodate the weather, and refer to it for the tuning pitch.
I'm sure this thread will get longer...