[CAUT] Re. Flight of Broken Bass String

[Susan Kline]

Jim, this reminds me of something I've wondered about.

Certain players have just a HUGE sound, and routinely they do
what I consider overplaying -- but they don't usually throw
any of the unisons out.

Others with a tight, nervous, poking kind of style manage to
give me a lot more work. The sound is usually a lot smaller and tighter,
but their blows seem to throw a tuning out a lot more easily.

In attending master classes, hanging around with pianists
and teachers, and reading about piano technique now and then,
I have never heard a teacher discussing the technical problems
inherent in a destructive playing style (to tuning, voicing,
and hammer, wire, and action longevity).

Over time I've tuned for a lot of concerts, and I feel that if
somebody throws out my tuning (more than a dab here or there)
they probably are demolishing some of the other tunings
they encounter. In fact, they probably are routinely playing
concerts on pianos which get progressively more out of tune
as the program proceeds -- and sometimes the tuner isn't there
to touch up at break, either. (At least, all too many pianists
seem surprised and happy when I attend the concert, as if it's
unusual.) So why doesn't this concern them enough to think about
what they might be doing to cause it, when many pianists don't?

Here you have a piano professor who routinely busts wire
right and left. He knows he does it. Why doesn't he think about
what part of his playing is doing it, when other pianists with
MASSIVE sounds aren't breaking anything?

sign me "curious"

ssssssssnn


At 07:06 PM 3/26/2006 -0500, Jim wrote:
>More off-topic, but I have had one (only) client who could break a NEW 
>bass string, while you wait, so to speak. If there is one artist, there 
>are bound to be more out there.
>
>I had just installed a fresh bass string, and the client (a piano 
>professor) asked if I'd like him to break it. I smiled and said that it 
>couldn't be done. That was a mistake on my part. He played a certain 
>piece, and BAM -- the new bass string let go. He then said that he had 
>routinely (but not intentionally) broken strings since he was ten years 
>old, and that another tuner had given him a tuning hammer to keep up with 
>the unisons on the many repaired/replaced strings.
>
>I was watching him play during the string-breaking selection. It wasn't a 
>particularly loud piece, nor did he seem to be trying to abuse the piano. 
>Over time and many discussions with others about this phenomenon, 
>apparently it has to do either with the style of playing (attack, in spite 
>of appearances), and/or the amount of repetitions occuring on the same 
>string in short succession... something about the string is not allowed to 
>"settle out" from its initial excusion before it is struck again. This has 
>been called a "green stick" or "fatigue" break.
>
>Regardless of the why, it would seem that any of us should be able to 
>duplicate this condition by drumming, playing hard, or otherwise. However, 
>I've never been able to duplicate this kind of results, regardless of method.
>
>Jim Harvey
>(I'm not an engineer, nor do I play one on TV)