Feeling the Hammers

[Stéphane Collin]

Hi Ed.

May I suggest a thought ?
If you take a frog, and open it with a knife, to see how it works, what you see is not a frog anymore, but a cadaver of what was a frog.
I mean, if you feed loud white noise in one's ears, you just killed his ability to feel minute vibrations in his fingers.
Best way, I think, to know about the frog, is to positively play his game, go to it's pound, put your head close to the surface of water, hear it sing, watch it turn it's eyes, etc.
And about the hammer voicing, why not try and put your head against the piano body, and see how accurately your front can feel the quality of shock vibrations caused by the stroke of a key (and all subsequent mechanical processes).  Then, find out by comparison, what goes from that information into the finger.

Just a thought, no more.

Regards.

Stéphane Collin
(Brussels, Belgium)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <A440A@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 11:59 PM
Subject: Re: Feeling the Hammers


| 
| >
| ><<  However since that encounter with the pianist I have run into
| >several technicians who do not believe that hammer hardness can be sensed
| >directly by the fingers at the key. >>
| 
|   Easy to find out.  If someone proposes that they can feel the hammers in 
| the keys, Just have them put ear plugs in, headphones on with a loud feed of 
| white noise. Then have them "feel" the hammers through the keys and tell you 
| which ones you just voiced. 
| Regards, 
| Ed Foote 
|