Jack, I can fully verify what David says! Time and time again we have our young students use the faulty logic that if a firm test blow can help stabilize the tuning then harder must be better. What I do after such a tuning (pounding!) is press on the sustain pedal and play moderately (say mf, but not louder) for about 20 seconds up and down, release the pedal and listen. The piano usually sounds like hell. "But why?" they ask. What David said. I think loud blows can (not always but usually) destabilize the tuning by pushing the speaking length out of equilibrium, and that by rendering the strings with the method stated above the equilibrium is restored, out of tune. Jim Busby From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of David Love Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 12:23 PM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] Rzewski forearm smash Can you explain why a "smash" would be more stabilizing than a normal test blow? How do you know that the smash didn't destabilize the pitch so that the next time you hit the note it won't go out of tune? It's counterproductive. Once the pin and the string segments are in equilibrium or stasis no further smashing of the piano will make them more stable. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com From: Jack Houweling [mailto:jackhouweling at dccnet.com] Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 11:16 AM To: davidlovepianos at comcast.net; caut at ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] Rzewski forearm smash Hi David, Can you explain why "smashes" are a waste of effort. Regards, Jack Houweling Sent from my iPhone On Dec 16, 2010, at 9:44 AM, David Love <davidlovepianos at comcast.net<mailto:davidlovepianos at comcast.net>> wrote: Yes, though employing forearm smashes (or even more vigorous individual note "smashes") as test blows in the hope that it will help achieve greater stability is a waste of effort. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com<http://www.davidlovepianos.com> ________________________________ From: Alan Eder <reggaepass at aol.com<mailto:reggaepass at aol.com>> Sender: caut-bounces at ptg.org<mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org> Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:38:33 -0500 (EST) To: <caut at ptg.org<mailto:caut at ptg.org>> ReplyTo: caut at ptg.org<mailto:caut at ptg.org> Subject: Re: [CAUT] Rzewski forearm smash Rzewski is one of those pianists/composers with an intensely physical relationship with the instrument (to not put too fine a point on it!). Alan Eder -----Original Message----- From: Zeno Wood <zeno.wood at gmail.com<mailto:zeno.wood at gmail.com>> To: College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org<mailto:caut at ptg.org>> Sent: Wed, Dec 15, 2010 12:29 pm Subject: [CAUT] Rzewski forearm smash In case you happen to be preparing a piano for Rzewski's Down By the Riverside, I recommend giving it the forearm smash about 50 times, because it happens about 49 times during the piece. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20101216/0a650d02/attachment.htm>
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