Unison Tuning of Musical Instruments
John F. Corso · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1954
This study deals with two factors related to the unison tuning of musical instruments: (1) the harmonic structure of the reference tone, and (2) the method of presentation of the reference tone during the tuning process. Data are presented on the accuracy of tuning four different instruments in unison with five reference-tone waveforms under simultaneous and successive tuning conditions. The results indicate that neither harmonic structure nor method of presentation of the reference tone has a significant effect upon tuning accuracy. The hypothesis is offered that unison tuning of musical instruments is dependent upon pitch-matching judgments rather than the discrimination of beats, as classically stated.