Damper Voiceing

[Roger Jolly]

Hi Jim,
           Some good points that I over looked. Care has to be used in
selecting the depth and angle of felt, particularly in the area of tri and
flat damper combination dampers. As a general rule, the softer felt gives a
little more pedal travel and easier half pedal results. Tri dampers that do
not slip in between the strings give poor half pedelling results. 
A few pianist that I have have done work for, have called me on the slow
pedal return and the quality of 'oink' when phrasing a legato passage. It's
not a thing that I routinely check. What a bad boy.
Musically most of the half pedalling seems to take place for right hand
effects (melody), this is where the tightly sewn dampers can have quite a
dramatic effect since it gives four very controlled contact points. The
loosely sewn dampers are almost flat and are no where near as dramatic in
result.
This caliber of pianist could need new dampers every 3 or 4 years as
compression takes place and results diminish. If they have to pay it's
suprising what they live with. It's not a perfect world.
Regards Roger

At 11:54 PM 19/06/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Richard;
> Jon and Roger have it right..........half pedaling has nothing to do with 
>damper voicing per se it is all in the timing. The only thing I can add to 
>what they have said is the choice of felt cut styles. Tapered cut sides on 
>the bass single dampers seem to give more/better results in half pedaling 
>than do the straight or blunt cut dampers. and in bi-chord and tri-chord a 
>longer/less sharp taper from top to bottom seems to be more useful.
>  In the case of the singles the taper seems to lend more spring back to the 
>felt and it stays 'close' to the string longer when the damper is partially 
>raised. In the case of the bi/tri chords the less sharp taper again allows 
>the felt stay closer to the string while being raised during half pedaling 
>than do dampers with a more sharply cut felt.
>Good luck.
>Jim Bryant (FL)
> 
Roger Jolly
Baldwin Yamaha Piano Centre
Saskatoon and Regina
Saskatchewan, Canada.
306-665-0213
Fax 652-0505