[pianotech] Changeable pitch action

[Carlos Ralon]

As a former Sohmer piano dealer, I met and talked frequently with Bob 
Sohmer. He and his brother Harry were personel friends of Irving Berlin. Mr 
Sohmer told me several times that on a regular basis they took Mr. Berlin's 
piano into thier factory, transposer and all, for restoration. I just 
assumed it was a Sohmer piano. Am I wrong?
Carlos Ralon, RPT
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thomas Cole" <tcole at cruzio.com>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 9:29 PM
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Changeable pitch action


David Boyce wrote:
> Irving Berlin had a key-change piano: "Berlin was a self-taught pianist 
> and one who reputedly restricted himself mainly to the black keys of the 
> piano. Eventually he bought a special piano with a lever under the 
> keyboard, enabling him to transpose his music mechanically" 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Berlin )
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has a picture of
this piano and the following caption on
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=59 .

"This upright transposing piano was made in 1940 by Weser Brothers, New
York, for Irving Berlin (1888–1989). Like many Tin Pan Alley pianists,
Berlin was self-taught, preferring to play on the black keys. 'The key
of C,' he once said, 'is for people who study music'. The transposing
mechanism shifted the keyboard to allow him to stay on the black keys
but produce music in other keys."

Tom Cole