[CAUT] Intermission Touch-ups

[Alan McCoy]

Hi Jim,

Yeah our oboist sometimes complains about the piano being sharp. (Then again
some orchestra members complain about the oboist being inconsistent with his
pitch!) But it is an issue for all concert technicians - being aware of the
temperature on stage, off stage, how far is the piano going to change once
the lights go on and the hall fills up, and all those issues. I often leave
our not-yet-under-the-lights S&S D 2-3c sharp at F2 tapering to 1c sharp at
about C4. I will let the piano tell me where and how much to float. The
stage manager is really great to work with and mostly when I get there on
concert night the piano has been under the lights for an hour or so. If that
is the case, then I'll leave it right on A-440. But sometimes it won't be
used until the 2nd half, so it'll be off stage. That calls for the educated
guess as to how much the piano will change.

Fun stuff.

Alan

-- Alan McCoy, RPT
Eastern Washington University
amccoy at mail.ewu.edu
509-359-4627


> From: James Ellis <claviers at nxs.net>
> Reply-To: "College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>" <caut at ptg.org>
> Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 11:21:49 -0400
> To: <caut at ptg.org>
> Subject: [CAUT] Intermission Touch-ups
> 
> I've been following this interesting discussion about intermission tuning
> touch-ups.  Fred Sturm is right:  The brass harpsichord strings don't
> behave like the steel - as one would expect.  Alan McCoy is right:  A rapid
> rise in temperature takes the organ sharp, and the harpsichord flat - also
> as one should expect.  Wim is also on target:  There is a vast difference
> between the stability of a piano and a harpsichord.
> 
> Twenty two years ago, after Andre Watts had given the piano a hard workout
> (just short of breaking a string or two) during a full-length solo concert,
> I asked him if he wanted me to touch up a couple of treble unisons during
> intermission.  He said "no".  I noticed that someone else on this list had
> a similar experience.  (I don't beat the stuffings out of the piano when I
> tune, but I don't normally have stability problems either.)
> 
> Prior to a dress rehearsal for a Brahms concerto a few years ago, the
> oboist complained that the piano was sharp.  It was a cold day in mid
> January, with ice and snow on the ground, and the orchestra had just come
> in to warm up.  I told the conductor that the piano was not sharp, and he
> agreed.  
> 
> The point of my comments is this:  Too many musicians do not know anything
> about the physics of the instruments they play.
> 
> Sincerely, Jim Ellis
>