[CAUT] Breaking strings/Una Chorda pedaling

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, Dave,

At 04:01 PM 3/29/2005, you wrote:
>Jeff:
>
>We have a heritage of string breakers here.  It's common.  Strings break
>at the capo bar because that's where they pass their elastic limit on a
>hard blow.  The string eventually gets work hardened and breaks when
>it's ready and not necessarily on a hard blow.  That always surprises
>them when it happens on an mf note and gives them ammunition for their
>"it's nothing I'm doing" argument.  One professor here believes that if
>you don't break a string every once in a while you're not getting all
>the dynamic range that you might get.  His famous saying "your piano
>means nothing if your forte isn't forte" expresses his view quite well.

Ah...Is John on your faculty now?

>I'm more amazed that pianos that have been in use for 11 years have not
>broken strings!  I've certainly not ever had that experience!

Obviously, they are not played forte very often...

Cheers!

Horace



>dave
>
>David M. Porritt
>dporritt@smu.edu
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
>Jeff Tanner
>Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 4:46 PM
>To: College Technicians
>Subject: [CAUT] Breaking strings/Una Chorda pedaling
>
>The recent discussions about the "over zealous" use of the una chorda
>pedal may have helped to explain why one of my piano profs has broken
>12 strings on her teaching piano this semester alone.  This is a
>Steinway B, the only piano of the 11 B's and 2 new Ds we bought in 1994
>which has had even one broken string, let alone now, most of the 6th
>octave, some twice.
>
>Yes, the hammers are beginning to need filing, but they've gotten it
>since most of the others have and nobody else is breaking strings.  The
>grooves aren't all that deep, but there is evidence that the hammers
>are hitting the strings in many varied positions.
>
>Other than this piano, broken strings here are a pretty rare
>occurrence.  So, I'm wondering if una chorda technique may have
>something to do with it.  A few weeks ago, I reduced her power in the
>6th octave - lowered let off and raised the hammer line - to see if
>that might make a difference.  I was beginning to think this cured the
>problem until she called me today with three more broken strings - the
>last of the originals between one or two notes below the treble break
>(E6?, maybe one on D#6?) and C7.  Capo feels very smooth and rounded -
>not sharp, and you can't even detect any string grooves, so I don't
>think that's the problem.  The broken strings are not limited to one
>wire size, so it wasn't just a faulty batch of wire either, and like I
>said, some have been replaced twice now.
>
>She is a heavy hitter, but claims these broke while playing mezzo forte
>or softer - which leads to my theory.
>
>If you have any suggestions at all why else this piano might be
>breaking strings, I'm entertaining all comers.
>
>Thanks,
>Jeff
>
>Jeff Tanner, RPT
>School Of Music
>University of South Carolina
>
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