The Feel of Voice

[Jonathan Finger]

I certainly agree with the psychoacoustics theory that somewhere in the
brain, sound and touch coincide.  I see this demonstrated frequently
when after voicing down a piano, a customer thinks that the action feels
heavier.  Conversely, a brighter piano feels seemingly lighter.

However, I don't know what I think about a performer being able to feel
harder hammers vs. softer hammers.   As I said, I certainly think
voicing affects touch, or at least seems to.  But after escapement, the
fingertip is no longer in contact with the hammer right?  At this point
the hammer's flying under it's own momentum, and you have no control
over it right?  If this is so (please correct me if I'm missing
something obvious), how can the density of the hammer be felt through
the key?  Until the hammer checks, it isn't in direct contact again.
Please correct me if I'm missing something obvious here.  Just trying to
work through this in my head.  

It sounds strangely like the
vibrato-via-massaging-key-at-bottom-of-stroke technique.  :)


Jonathan Finger RPT

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of David Andersen
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 1972 6:28 AM
To: Pianotech
Subject: Re: The Feel of Voice

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


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