Cross-bar on Steinway D

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, Jim,

At 11:17 AM 3/2/2004, you wrote:
>On March 1, Horace Greeley wrote the following regarding the cross-bar on
>the D:  "Had sufficiently cost-effective casting technology been available,
>this piece would have been case in place long ago."
>
>The fact it, it was.  When I looked at the old Steinway D that Paderewski
>played, it did not just have a cast-in-place cross-bar.  There was a full
>cast-in-place strut, running the length from front to back, that coincided
>with that mid-point break in the stringing pattern - a full strut that the
>modern-day D does not have.  In my opinion, it was a better plate design
>than in the modern version.  I don't know why Steinway changed that design,
>but I can guess, and I will keep that guess to myself - for the same reason
>that the S, the M, and the L are all missing a strut running parallel to
>the left extremety of the tenor section.

Yes, I know that...as noted: the issue is what is "cost-effective".  From 
the very beginning, Steinway has been just as much about making money as it 
has about making pianos.  That is not a value judgement.  It is simply an 
acknowledgement of their reality.


>As for performers of "prepared piano" stuff removing that cross-bar on the
>D, or the B, whether it reallly does anything or not, here is the policy I
>would suggest:  "The cross-bar of a Steinway B, or D, is a structural part
>of the piano, and it is NOT to be tampered with".  That's all you need to say.
>
>To make an analogy:  It's like taking one rafter out of a roof structure.
>One rafter out is not going to make the roof fall in on you.  But how many
>do you have to take out before it will fall.  Simply have a policy.
>Performers DO NOT mess with structural parts of the instrument.  PERIOD!
>You could take the policy a step beyond that, as far as I'm concerned.

And, depending on circumstance, you will be argued into the ground.

What so often is left out of the technical conversation is the political 
reality.  If one is working in a climate and with faculty that is helpful 
and supportive, one is be able to provide a much more positive and stable 
environment for all concerned - certainly not least of one's self.  If, on 
the other hand, the faculty are constantly engaged in what amount to 
otherwise meaningless political disputes, one will find one's self removing 
struts and tuning at odd times...until one finds another gig.

Best.

Horace