Weighty Problem

[Kenneth W. Burton]

	One of our leading piano teachers solved this problem for her
daughter who was learning piano at a high level. She sewed a long, thin
tube out of cloth, filled it with BB's (the round, copper coated shot used
in some air rifles) and laid it on the keys of her Steinway grand. It
didn't do anything for the responsiveness of the action but it certainly
made it heavier to play. Then, when that period of training was over for
her daughter, she merely removed the tube.

	Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary, Alberta

On Thu, 12 Mar 1998, Maurer family wrote:

> 
> 
>          My client has a Yamaha U1 (upright) that I service regularly.
> This piano has been very consistant and my client has been very happy
> with it. On my last service on this piano though, the lady asked me a
> question that I usually don't hear very often. She asked if I could make
> the action heavier. It seems that her son, who is the pianist at the age
> of 12, has become quite good . He entered his first piano competition
> and had great difficulty playing on the competition piano. It was a
> grand that was at a local piano dealer's recital hall. I assume that it
> was a Steinway because he is a Steinway dealer.
>  Anyway , the boy complained that the piano played exceedingly heavy and
> that he couldn't play his chosen piece properly. Apparently none of the
> participants could rehearse on this piano , so they had to play cold
> turkey.
>         I explained the major differences between her U1 and a full
> sized grand and that if her son continued to become more accomplished
> on the piano that she really should consider upgrading. Her response was
> that they didn't have enough room for a grand , much as thay would like
> to have one. Then she reitorated her question.
>         My experience with action improvement has always been with
> trying to make actions play easier ,or should I say with as little
> frictional resistance as possible. How can I solve this customers
> problem without radically changing what I find is a fine working action?
> 
>                             Tunefully,
>                                     Cliff Maurer (Lunytuner)
> 
>