Many thanks for the excellent discussion of this issue. Joel Rappaport's comment that Alicia likes her repetition very reliable at the bottom of key travel (or however he put it and Jim Coleman amended) struck a chord with me. This is certainly just exactly what she was asking of the piano. At the speed of repetition she was achieving, the key probably rises less than halfway before another finger is striking it. It would be nice to do slow motion of this to see what happens and when. At any rate, there is a feedback loop between key and finger which determines timing of the "finger events", and it is definitely possible for the fingers to move faster than the action: ie, the limiting factor is the action, not the pianist. I have found in trying to replicate her technique (and I am a performing pianist myself), that creating a consistent timing is the real problem. The second finger must strike after the first has released and the key allowed to just rise. I think I described that the fingers slide off the fronts of the keys: strike, slide off; strike slide off; strike. Timing is so important that nay small inconsistency from note to note makes all this impossible. What has occurred to me in reading the various responses is that aftertouch coupled with the condition of the front rail felts are very important factors in the actual speed that is available. All other factors have to be within close specifications, of course. The way I am conceiving it is by looking at the action working in reverse. The aftertouch is like lost motion in reverse. As the key rises (and hammer falls), the aftertouch must be got through before anything else really begins to happen, and split seconds are racing by. In a similar last minute situation, I think I might experiment lowering the hammer line (seems so counterintuitive, since I spend so much time raising them day to day) until the aftertouch was at a minimum value. I happen to like the feel of quite a bit of aftertouch, myself, and I probably don't pay enough attention to keeping it within bounds. I note also that it is aftertouch that really determines how far the jack lets off, and also limits the closeness to the string at which drop can be set: there is initial drop, then some degree of rise through aftertouch. The less aftertouch, the closer the initial drop can be, since there is less rise afterwards. So anyhow, that's where I'll place my money when I attack that piano for its annual summer run through. Just wish I could get Alicia back to town to see if I got it right this time. (I'll also pay attention to friction, balance weight of the keys, and other factors, to see if I've overlooked them in the past. I think they are all in a good ball park) Regards to all, and many thanks for all the feedback. Fred Sturm, RPT Albuquerque, NM
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