[CAUT] Breaking strings/Una Chorda pedaling

[Israel Stein]

At 07:03 AM 3/30/2005,wimblees@aol.com wrote:

>There seems to be a difference between a heavy hitter and a hard hitter. A 
>heavy hitter just plays loud, using the sustain pedal to keep time, almost 
>never letting it up long enough for the strings to settle down. A string 
>will break when it is hit repeatedly. The wire will soften, and then break 
>when the hammer hits it again when the string is at it most stretched 
>position.
>
>A hard hitter attacks the keys. I have observed players like that. They 
>are not necessarily playing loud, but the manner in which they hit the key 
>is different. I can't explain what they do, I just know that those players 
>break strings.

I don't remember where I read this, but someone who studied the motion of 
pianists found that if a pianist's hand is still accelerating when it hits 
the key, string breakage results more frequently. I guess you can call this 
"attacking the key..."

Israel Stein