false beats, real jazz and satisfaction

[Jim Perkins]

Speaking as a pianist and piano teacher, whilst agreeing that the 'soft'
pedal on uprights doesn't come anywhere near the effect of that on
grands- where the special effect is largely due to a less used (softer)
portion of the hammer felt striking the string- as well as a reduced
number of unisons, I can't agree that it doesn't work at all. The
problem is that the pianist has to PLAY softly and that demands control
and practice on the part of the pianist.  The reduced travel of the
hammer assists soft playing by allowing more control over the hammer
swing.

When your customers say it doesn't work, tell them that they have to
master the technique of using it!

Jim Perkins

-----Original Message-----
From: Farrell [mailto:mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com] 
Sent: Sunday, 14 January 2007 10:46 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: false beats, real jazz and satisfaction

IMHO, you are correct. The soft (left) pedal on most vertical pianos is 
nothing more than a marketing effort, on the part of manufacturers, to
paint 
their vertical piano "the same as" a grand piano.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 
> >From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com>
>>The soft pedal of most uprights is the one that pushes the hammer rail

>>forward. I suspect the "moderator rail" is the mute rail - usually the

>>middle pedal on verticals equipped with that feature (if one can call
it 
>>that - I have several four-letter-word descriptions for those #%&$s).
>>
>>Terry Farrell
>
>
> Correct. The moderator is the "mute rail" (middle pedal in uprights).
The 
> soft pedal is the left pedal which makes nothing except pushing the
hammer 
> rail forward, which is definitlely not audible. Many customers ask me:
the 
> left pedal doesn´t work. Could you fix it? My answer is always: It
works, 
> but you can´t hear anything!
>
> In my opinion the left pedal in uprights  is just an an attempt to
copy 
> the effect of the left pedal in grands. Obivously, it doesn´t work and

> won´t ever work. The theory is: shorter way, lesser energy, quiet
sound. 
> In praxis it means: shorter way, no idea as to energy, same sound. I
work 
> as psychologist at the university in my hometown (making my PhD) and
am 
> toying around with the idea to test that in a scientific way. But I
have 
> not the technical possibillities to realize it. An idea could be to
use 
> Yamaha discPiano and make subjects listen to the same song with and 
> without soft pedal and to compare the results. Anyway: the left pedal
in 
> uprights produces no audible effect. Other opinions?
>
> Gregor