The Feel of Voice

[David Andersen]

on 3/19/03 11:49 AM, Richard Brekne at Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no wrote:

>> 
>> << Seems to me that the question about whether or not pianists "feel" the
>> voice of a piano is rather answered in the affirmative, and the more
>> interesting question of explaining how this is, just what it is this
>> "feeling" is about should be taken up. >>
>> 
>> It would be interesting to hear just what direction your voicing went.  Did
>> you add brilliance or did you mellow it out? (Ed Foote)
>> 
> 
> I voiced down. The hammers were hard and the piano was overbright as it has
> been under heavy use for a couple months without any attention given to the
> voicing. I tend to be really carefull about making big changes and this was no
> exception. I just took enough out to get that glassy zing out of the
> picture...
> mostly noticable on very soft play. On loud play there is nearly the same
> amount of brilliance... but minus that "crashy extra" that accompanies over
> hard hammers.
> 
> RicB

Hi, fellas. Hi, List.  Fascinating thread. Voicing down is 90% of the
voicing I do; the more I do it, the more I'm convinced that springy hammers
feel radically different than "rocks" do, AND that players & artists DO NOT
separate tone, touch, and tuning---they perceive it as a gestalt, as a
whole.

>" I just took enough out to get that glassy zing out of the
> picture...
> mostly noticable on very soft play. On loud play there is nearly the same
> amount of brilliance... but minus that "crashy extra" that accompanies over
> hard hammers."

This is a fabulous, very simple description of the ideal of voicing.  The
above is what satisfies most discerning players.

How to get there?  We've talked about that before, but I'll be happy to tell
you exactly how I get what I want , if somebody is interested.  I work, as
Ed and Richard obviously do, on many very, very fine pianos; but the
techniques make even more startling improvements on less expensive or
entry-level instruments.

Best, 
David Andersen