teaching books

[John Musselwhite]

>On Wed, 12 Apr 1995, Conrad Hoffsommer wrote:
>
>> Are there other general history books comparable that I should
>> consider?
>
>     The Lives of the Piano, ed. James R. Gaines
>           Has two excellent essays on piano history, with nice > photos.

I liked that one a lot... the chapter on Franz Mohr alone is worth the cost
of the book  (which I found in a used book store for $10 in new condition).

Another "history" book is "STEINWAY"  by Ronald V. Ratcliffe. It's really a
coffee-table book, but it has the most beautiful photos and drawings of
art-case pianos along with a complete history of the company. It's available
from Steinway Parts.

I also liked "Pianos and their Makers"  by Alfred Dolge (published by
Dover). Although it was first published in 1911 it is, if nothing else, an
interesting read and a book every piano person should own. Most music store
used to carry this one.

On the other hand, "Five Lectures on The Acoustics of the Piano" edited by
Anders Askenfelt and published in 1990 is an absolute necessity for anyone
interested in the acoustics of our instrument. The book is filled with
formulae and graphs and is a goldmine of information on the physics of the
piano. It comes with a CD which has excerpts illustrating such things as
hammer density and hardness, and recordings of pianos ranging from
Cristofori's 1720 piano to a modern Steinway D and instruments in between
taken from a concert called "From harpsichord to concert grand" given at the
Swedish Academy of Music in 1988 with most of the performed music being
played on instruments which would have been contemporary. I'd love to get a
recording of the entire concert as the excerpts are great!

The recordings and explanations of strings with different longditudinal
modal frequencies but tuned to the same note is fascinating! It's times like
these I wish I'd paid more attention in physics class!

I bought my copy from Steinway Parts but I'm not sure who else would have
it. I definately recommend it even if it is rather pricey!

                John
John Musselwhite, RPT               Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com       john.musselwhite@67.cambo.cuug.ab.ca