Speed

[Albert Walter Thomas]

Hello list,
    As a pianist as well as a tuner-technician, I enter my 2 "cents" worth
thusly: Beware of cleaning keys before a concert without consulting the
artist!  My favorite example: I prepared a D for Bela Davidovich, before the
rehearsal with the orchestra, and came back to prepare it further for the
concert, to find that a local piano teacher/concertseriesofficial had
cleaned the keys. Ms. Davidovitch was horrified, and , thinking I had done
it, came over immediately to tell me to please not change the
texture/friction/feel of the keys by cleaning them again! She had just
barely gotten them back toward the feel that she found when she first tried
the piano. Back in the days before air conditioning was common, we used to
rub our hands on the bottoms of our shoes before going onstage, espec. in
summer in the Southeast U.S., to reduce the sweaty slipperiness. 
     One other "note", concerning a post from someone no longer on the list:
(sorry if detailitis but may be interesting to some):  Artur Rubinstein (of
Poland,  U.S.,....~~France.....   )was a 'fantastic-genius' concert pianist,
who by his own admission did not take too many tries before determining that
composing was absolutely not his forte' (is this getting worse or what?
hehe)......the composer-pianist was Anton Rubinstein of Russia....no known
relation. 
    Albert Thomas
    Auburn University
    Thomas Piano Sales and Service

P.S. Also answering the PTG membership thread, I am replete with
bravos/bravas for PTG, but I was interrupted from the joining/testing
process years ago, by an "unbelievable" series of personal and career events
that continue to this day.....so must join after these metamorphoses are
complete, fairly soon.  



At 10:09 AM 6/20/99 EDT, you wrote:
>In a message dated 6/20/99 5:42:24 AM Central Daylight Time, 
>o-anders@online.no writes:
>
><< Thank you! I specially liked this to comments.
> 
> If you do a  grandpiano for a importent solo recording. Would you spend 1-2
> hours on that or longer? Is that beyond normal tuning or do you get it where 
>you
> want in normal time. Did you understand my question?
> 
> You once sendt me a e-mail were you mentioned a choir conducter who used to
> different tuned pianos for getting the choir to sing clean (I think you 
>meant)
> How did he use those pianos. one a time or both at the same time or what?
> 
> Happy if you have time answering those questions.
> 
> Thanks
> Ola Andersson >>
>
>I would need at least 90 minutes to tune a grand piano that is out of tune or 
>off pitch for a concert or a recording.  And to finish in that time, I would 
>be working at top speed.  You need to have a very high degree of accuracy and 
>stability for such an event.  I could easily crank through either an aural 
>tuning or follow an SAT program twice in 45-60 minutes but I would still 
>consider that to be too unstable and inaccurate for a concert tuning although 
>it might be fine for a common grand or vertical in someone's home.
>
>Two hours or more would be a better time allotment for a concert tuning.  If 
>the piano needs any detailed voicing or regulation, even more time would be 
>involved.  I like to present a clean and polished piano if I can too.  If I 
>am working long and hard, I would at least want to clean the keys after 
>working in order to have them completely fresh for the artist.
>
>  The longer I intend to work, the more incidental time has to be allotted 
>for short breaks, interruptions, etc.  A lot can be accomplished when working 
>intensely but you can only do that for so long before you must rest or 
>something else breaks the continuity of your process.
>
>At each of the three tunings I did at the PTG Annual Convention for the 
>Baldwin Recital, I started early in the day, at 8 AM and did an Aural Tuning 
>that was assisted by and programmed into the SAT.  The programming itself can 
>consume an extra 30-60 minutes over and above what an Aural Tuning alone can 
>take.
>
>There was in each case, a midday short performance where the piano had the 
>basic sound I was looking for.  After that performance, I started again and 
>tuned for a few more hours until every bit of instability was gone and every 
>note held on to the pitch I had designated for it to the 1/10 cent 
>sensitivity and accuracy that the SAT provides.  If you tune even an FAC 
>program to that degree, you will have a stunning sound.  If you can create a 
>custom temperament and octave stretching arrangement, you will have an 
>extraordinary and superlative sound.
>
>The first one I did in Milwaukee was the Equal Beating Victorian Temperament 
>(EBVT) that I most often use.  The next was the Rameau Rousseau Hall 18th 
>Century Modified Meantone Temperament (RRH 18C MMT) in Kansas City and the 
>last was the 1/7 Comma Meantone in Albuquerque.  Anytime anyone does 
>something that is out of the ordinary, above the lowest common denominator, 
>there will be some who are interested and enlightened by it and there will be 
>others who are offended.  By now, the story is out about who was affected 
>either way and what they had to say and do about it.
>
>No one should ever be dissuaded from pursuing higher goals simply because 
>there are some who wish that only the status quo be maintained.  I see the 
>lowest common denominator for whom they are and do not wish to be a part of 
>that which is merely stagnant.  Their meager protests only serve to drive me 
>onward.
>
>As for the other question, the two pianos tuned differently is an unusual one 
>but it is nevertheless part of the record.  Both are tuned in the RRH 18C MMT 
>mentioned above.  One is tuned normally, the other is transposed so that the 
>tonal center is not on C as usual but 1/2 step higher on Db.  
>
>The director uses the normal tuning most of the time but if the group is 
>working on a piece in a remote key, the director sometimes and temporarily 
>uses the other piano so that the singers can focus a little better on their 
>harmony until they are comfortable with it.  The beating of the 3rds in the 
>remote keys of the RRH 18C MMT is very fast.  The harmony is borderline 
>harsh.  When the director gets the group singing properly, he switches back 
>to the normal tuning where there would be the expected brilliance and high 
>energy from the remote key.
>
>Thank you for your interest.
>
>Bill Bremmer RPT
>Madison, Wisconsin
>