[CAUT] touch & tone & tuning (was why does it feel better?)

[ReggaePass at aol.com]

Hi Ric,

Well, yet another hole in my training and decades of experience uncovered! 

Regards,

Alan Eder RPT


In a message dated 8/30/2006 3:04:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Ric Brekne <ricbrek at broadpark.no> writes:

>Hi
>
>This is something David Stanwood has been doing for many years, and is
>part of his bag of tools for diagnosing what a pianist / owner wants
>when a hammer change is to be executed. That adding (or subtracting) to
>the mass that hits the strings can and does affect tone really should be
>no suprise at this point. The basic knowledge goes back as far as the
>quandry about using heavy hammers vs light hammers goes. Nigh on 20
>years ago now Ed McMorrow launched his controversial Light Hammer
>philosophy which took light hammers to new extremes. Stanwoods
>Strikeweight Ratio methodology directly employs the use of non felt or
>wood mass to the hammers as part of evening strikeweights, and I've
>found this technique employed in very old pianos.
>
>I get the feeling ofte times that much of what is known in our trade
>gets lost in the maze as it were since there is no real or very little
>formalized schooling for new technicians. Of that what does exist
>students are expedited through very short programs. One is lucky to find
>more then 2 years study line anywhere. Coupled with the fact that we are
>after all so very few in the world and our numbers are not sufficient to
>support a library of published works in all major languages.. its
>probably a hopeless cause to try and keep all knowledge that should be
>kept current, current.
>
>Cheers
>RicB
>
>...........
>
>This technique has been covered in convention classes before: A
>Bosendorfer voicing class and Richard Davenport’s “Prelude to Hammer
>Replacement” come to mind. (Davenport mentioned extensive use of shank
>clips as an alternative to doing nothing at all in situations where
>hammer replacement and all that should go with it are not an option for
>economic reasons.) In our recent experience at CalArts we had such
>dramatic feedback that we felt compelled to offer our testimonial. Does
>this scenario ring a bell for any others out there?
>
>Thanks,
>