Self/changable tuning instrument - WAS: Re: Relevant OT

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

At 18:21 3/31/2003 +0200, you wrote:


>Oh yes..... definantly. No need for any selectivity there :) While we
>are at it, we can also include artificial pianists and pianos. Pretty
>soon we will be able to ..... what.... read record grooves for something
>to keep us busy ??  Or perhaps Kurt was just kidding us :)
>
>--
>Richard Brekne




Any of you Euro-types familiar with the following?

I just got this from my cousin in France, and it looks like the message got 
a bit truncated, but there should be enough to get something out of it.


=======================


>Composer strikes the right chord
>
>
>Musician may have revolutionised sound of the piano
>
>
>Merope Mills
>
>
>In what appears to be the musical equivalent of splitting the atom, a
>British musician has created a device that can adapt a piano to play the
>"microtones" that are usually beyond the capability of the
>instrument.Three hundred years after the piano's invention, composer
>Geoff Smith claims to have revolutionised an instrument that, until now,
>has relied on only 88 notes from its 88 keys. This limitation has made
>the piano's "fixed tuning" unable to cope with the differing scales of
>Persian, Chinese and Indian music. Smith's device could open up markets
>for the instrument in places where it has previously been seen as an
>expensive piece of Western furniture.
>The innovation threatens to make professional piano tuning defunct,
>since players will be able to perform .
>Fitted to a standard 88-key piano, it means scales such as the Iranian
>dastgah-ha, which demand intricate microtones, will be accessible to
>pianists.
>The young British pianist Rolf Hind called it an "incredible" discovery.
>"It's absolutely fascinating," he said. "I can definitely see myself
>using it. Where do I get one?"
>Pierre-Laurent Aimard, another distinguished performer of contemporary
>piano music, said: "It's a very refreshing discovery. When the piano
>was first invented it was permanently moving and improving. But for too
>long - about the last 100 years - [it] has been fixed. It's nice to see
>things are moving again."
>Acknowledging what may be a major shift in modern music, Hind said:
>"There is huge potential here and many composers will be hugely excited.
>But the question is, are our ears ready for all these microtones?
>"We're talking about a completely different sound world which before
>we've only been able to hear through synthesisers. I imagine that people
>who are not used to all these new sounds may just think the piano's gone
>out of tune."
>The biggest challenge will be to convert more conservative musicians to
>the new outlook. Harriet Smith of the classical Music magazine is among
>the doubters.
>"The question it immediately begs is why?" she said. "You obviously do
>not need all these extra tones to play the majority of the repertoire
>that is  out there. And you would not really want it to play world music
>on the piano because that is not really what the piano is about."
>But the inventor can take comfort from the knowledge that, in the
>instrument's infancy, the piano received short shrift from musical
>traditionalists. In 18th-century Germany the organ builder Gottfried
>Silbermann excitedly demonstrated his first piano to his friend J S
>Bach. The composer was unimpressed, deeming the high notes too poor and
>the weight of the keys too heavy. It took a while, and a few
>developments, before the composer became a fan.
>The question of how the device works remains a closely guarded secret.
>World music specialist Michael Church said: "Until we know precisely how
>the pianist is altering the length or tension of the strings it is hard
>to say anything meaningful. But if he really is going to 'bend' notes in
>an Eastern manner, then it is a genuine breakthrough."
>
>
>The Guardian Weekly 20-3-03


Conrad Hoffsommer - Music Technician
Luther College, 700 College Dr., Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045
Vox-(563)-387-1204 // Fax (563)-387-1076

- People never grow up, they just learn how to act in public. -Bryan White