Damper Voiceing

[Brian Trout]

Hi Richard,

Wow, that's a tough one!  Sounds a little like an artist I heard of a few
years back that wanted the left pedal to be a 'variable voicing control'.
AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!

Beyond the normal regulating techniques, I don't know what to say.  I would
probably be looking at things like whether the dampers come down 'squarely'
onto the strings, whether they twist from side to side when they lift,
whether they raise front to back or back to front, whether they lift evenly
throughout the piano... you probably already have a good handle on this
stuff, as well as the condition of the damper felt.   I've never
experimented with weighting the damper levers or putting 'helper springs' on
them.  Perhaps a good long look at the Schimmel might lead to a few clues.
(Some pianos are quite 'live' because of speaking duplexes and such, but
that's another ball of wax...)  Also, different piano makers probably have
slightly different locations where the dampers come into contact with the
string which could make some significant differences in the harmonics you
hear 'bleeding' through.  Just a thought.

It's interesting.  Some people probably think I'm nuts, but I'd actually
like to take some damper classes.  Perhaps at the 2000 convention.

Good luck with this one.  I'll be watching the responses as well.

Brian Trout
Quarryville, Pa.

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Brekne <richardb@c2i.net>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Saturday, June 19, 1999 8:26 PM
Subject: Re: Damper Voiceing



>What is requested from these pianists, is to be able to exploit different
>effects dampers make soundwise as the damper pedal is used in different
ways.
>They want to be able to create a kind of "stachato", as well as a kind of
very
>slow .. tempted to use the term "lagato" damping, and a host of varients
>inbetween. Of course the system needs to be very even and well regulated.
That
>much is easy enough.
>
>This goes beyond eliminating "wank" noises from damper felt that is too
hard. In
>most cases this fellow seems to complain about dampers not being capable of
>damping strongly (quickly) enough. If he can get that out of the damper
system,
>then he can get the rest as well, at least to some degree.
>
>His favorite piano at the conservatory in this regard is a Schimmel grand,
which
>displays very firm, quick and quiet damping, and is easy to control to get
a
>kind of "muffing" effect if he wants it. He seems to think this should be
>possible on any piano, upright or grand.
>
>Upon thinking about his request, it seems logical enough and its one of
those
>"jobs" I would like to develop better skills at.
>
>Richard Brekne
>
>I.C.P.T.G.   N.P.T.F
>
>