[CAUT] Sostenuto

[Ed Sutton]

If you press down on the tab with your finger, and release it as if your 
finger were the sostenuto rod turning down to rest position, you will hear 
the tab slap against the upper surface of the damper flange. Multiply by 60 
or so and you've got a good slap sound.

I don't see how this can be prevented. Perhaps by weakening the tiny tab 
springs and inserting little felt cushions?? Might be a good way to ruin a 
set of flanges.

What I am trying to imagine is what possible musical effect could be 
accomplished by releasing the sostenuto pedal while holding down the damper 
pedal?

Could the music call for holding down the damper pedal while releasing the 
sostenuto in order to press the una corda? Does anything call for this?

Ed Sutton

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jerry Cohen" <emailforjc at yahoo.com>
To: <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 9:25 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Sostenuto


> Thanks Ron and Fred for your responses.
>
> Unfortunately the pianist is a professor (Doctorate from Manhattan), so I
> don't think I should teach her about the sostenuto!!!
>
> This Saturday I will have more time (before the concert) to study the
> mechanism. Currently the sostenuto is lifting the dampers a little higher
> than the damper pedal. I think I can limit the damper pedal a little bit
> more. Now a damper just winks if you press a white key very firmly, with 
> the
> damper pedal down. Also, I will check for restrictions in the sostenuto
> linkage.
>
> Unfortunately, I didn't receive my January Journal yet. Hopefully it will
> arrive by Saturday, so I can read Kent's article first.
>
> Again, thanks for the assistance.
>
> Jerry Cohen, RPT
> New Jersey Chapter
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Fred
> Sturm
> Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 6:58 PM
> To: caut at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] Sostenuto
>
> On Dec 28, 2008, at 8:45 PM, Jerry Cohen wrote:
>
>> First the sostenuto pedal is depressed holding the appropriate
>> notes. With
>> the sostenuto still depressed, she would use the damper pedal. So
>> far no
>> problem. Then with the damper pedal still depressed, she would
>> release the
>> sostenuto pedal.
> snip
>> From a piano performance point of view, is this a "legal" use of the
>> sostenuto? After all, even if the blade could return to rest, there
>> would
>> still be the ugly noise from all the individual tabs flipping.
>
> Like Ron N says, this is where you expect to hear a slap sound. Any
> pianist who makes much use of a sostenuto needs to know this: always
> release both pedals simultaneously, or at any rate never release the
> sostenuto with the damper pedal engaged. Not all are aware of this,
> and not all piano profs know to teach it (none of my teachers ever
> did). Not what you asked, but something to know and to convey to
> pianists (when you are in a situation where you can do that, probably
> not right before the concert <G>). Definitely "illegal."
>
> I can't imagine any regulation issue that would cause the hang up
> you
> describe. Maybe too weak a return spring - much too weak, or one that
> isn't properly engaged (I don't know the Yamaha design off hand). Or
> excess friction where it pivots (I've seen that in some Steinways,
> where there was so much friction the spring couldn't overcome it), or
> perhaps somewhere in the trapwork. Those springs are plenty strong
> enough to overcome the tab springs as a rule. The rod should
> definitely swing past/through the tabs.
>
> There is an article on sostenuto by Kent Swafford in the January PTJ
>
> (nice work, Kent!)
>
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> University of New Mexico
> fssturm at unm.edu
>
>
>
>