2021-05-15
The two week Acupuncture intervals seem to work well, as long as I pace myself. On days when playing the keyboard is more difficult to get in the groove, I play the horn first. I do a 10 minute warm-up over the whole four and a half octaves. This works again although the lowest 1.½ octaves are weak (C1-F2) I still work on them. It makes the songs I play sound better. After about 40 minutes of enjoying the music I can go to the clavichord and it works right away.
Another thing I (re-)discovered the importance of tuning. I used to tune the clavichord with the help of a tuning app. The clavichord is very quiet and the porch unstable. The mic does not easily pick up the sound, so I play the pitch and tune by ear each note of the central octave. I find it very difficult to hear the exact pitch the app plays and I found out that when I turn up the volume, the pitch in my head changes. 5-6 Years ago, my hearing got quite distorted. I heard high notes flat and low notes sharp. I could not trust my hearing anymore. So I retrained my ears (comes in handy to have written the first master thesis on ear training:).
It seems that I can’t rely on hearing sinus tones (electronically produced without overtones, like the telephone tone) accurately. I pulled out my pythagorean tuning forks. My original tuning was a-440 Hz Werkmeister III temperament. The tuning forks (Icall them pitch forks) are C 256 Hz, which would have the a at 427.6 Hz From the set I can use The F and B (exact) and the e-flat and e, almost exact, the rest I do by ear. With this I get a much better tuning, because simple electronic instruments can’t hear what makes the best harmonic blend for each particular instrument. Once I nailed the tuning and started playing I went on playing for more than three hours without getting tired. Usually I have to take brakes every 40 minutes. See the importance of being in tune (Parkinsons #4).
Reflections 