[pianotech] What is bloom,

[Nicholas Gravagne]

JD,

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 10:05 AM, John Delacour <JD at pianomaker.co.uk> wrote:
> At 09:07 -0700 17/03/2011, Nicholas Gravagne wrote:
>
>> JD's experience with playing chords and then lifting dampers at the
>> pedal, although related to the above, is different in that the vast
>> majority of damped strings are suddenly activated through mechanical
>> coupling and sympathetic vibration upon lifting the dampers.
>
> Ah, well in that case you're changing the subject, Nick!  You are talking
> about the way an individual note attacks, decays, sustains etc.

Well, the subject had already morphed out of your initial thought, as
evidenced by David L's good sense to change the subject line to a more
generic "what is bloom?" In addition, we are not talking merely of
individual notes but of the whole system. Still, if your intent is to
bring us back to your question RE the phenomena of bloom and lifting
dampers, then my comment above of "mechanical coupling and sympathetic
vibration" is unsatisfactory as it apparently doesn't satisfy your
quest to explain your experience. (See below.)

>
> Toning (voicing) is very pertinent, as you say, in the way the sound
> envelope develops and decays.  It is quite astonishing how the sound of a
> note can be transformed from a thoroughly unsatisfactory, jagged curve to
> something acceptable, regular and longer-sustained.

Most certainly!
>
> But I'll stop there because I was not talking of the more frequently
> encountered phenomenon that you have begun talking about.

OK.

> My question is
> about the bloom that occurs in a very small minority of pianos when the
> dampers are raised, and this is an 'extra', allowing the player to use
> effects that are not available on most of even the very best pianos.  A
> piano without it can nevertheless be an excellent piano, and a piano with it
> might not have necessarily have certain other desirable qualities.

This fascinates me, JD, as I am unclear beyond a general idea as to
what you mean. I don't expect you to continue to attempt another
discourse on this experience unless you wish to, or else re-articulate
the technique you employ that I may learn to zero in on what you are
hearing or hope to hear. Perhaps if we could all hear this for
ourselves at you elbow. That pianists might exploit the effect is
further tantalizing. Perhaps the accomplished pianists among us might
chime in. But then I would expect the subject to once again change.
>
> JD
>--
Nick Gravagne, RPT
AST Mechanical Engineering