[CAUT] Thumbtacks in hammers!

[michelle stranges]

It's about time you showed up here Victeaux!!

:)

your secret admirer

--On Friday, October 8, 2004 7:15 AM -0400 Victor Belanger <vbela@MIT.EDU> 
wrote:

> How ironic!
>
> Next week I have to prep a piano for Lou Harrison's Symphony #3, and in
> the score there are instructions of installing thumb tack in the hammers.
> At first I thought to myself "what kind of piece of s&%t  of a piano can
> I put on stage" but then I looked at the score and it is somewhat
> demanding. It does not make me happy but, I chose an upright and I will
> take it as it is and find out what needs to be done after. If I need to
> change the hammers, then that is what I will need to do; sadly.
>
> Anyone with other kind of experiences with thumbtack that could recommend
> a few pointers.
>
> Best.
>
> Victor Belanger
> MIT
>
> ----- Original message ---------------------------------------->
> From: John Minor <jminor@uiuc.edu>
> To: caut <caut@ptg.org>
> Received: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 10:55:11 -0500
> Subject: [CAUT] Thumbtacks in hammers!
>
>> Well, it finally happened. Every university technician fears
>> that one day the following will happen in their school:
>
>> A recently rebuilt Steinway B was used for a performance of
>> Stravinsky's RAGTIME. The piece calls for cymbalum so, in it's
>> place a piano had thumb tacks pushed into the hammer felt to
>> imitate the sound. This was for a NEW MUSIC performance here
>> at the University of Illinois.
>
>> I wrote a nice email to the performing arts center director
>> where the atrocity was committed and informed them the hammers
>> would need to be replaced at a cost of $400 for the parts.
>> Unfortunately, I failed to mention the 30 or so hours it could
>> take to bore and hang the new set!
>
>> The department directors spoke and the offenders were
>> supposedly "spoken to" about the matter. Personally I'd rather
>> have had the chance to talk to people face to face and ask,
>> "What were you thinking?" There seems to be an attitude of
>> "I'll do anything I darn well feel like doing" among many in
>> our music department. Is that an isolated attitude?
>
>
>> John Minor
>> University of Illinois
> _______________________________________________
> caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives