[CAUT] tight balancier -

[A440A at aol.com]

David writes:

<<   As I reread you post above, 
I found myself doing the unthinkable..questioning!  <<

  No,  questioning is the way most of us learn or unlearn what we need to. 

>>You say that there is no blow distance in fast repetition, and thus, 
no power, presumably speaking of soft dynamic, but what power would 
you be looking for at p or pp or ppp.? <<

     I meant to say that if the hammers are checking 1/4" from the string, 
you will have 1/4" blow distance on all but the first note of a fast repetition. 
 I wasn't trying to say there would be no power on very soft playing, as that 
seems to be one of them contridictory terms. 

>>You say that very few 
pianists can play fast repetition at ppp, but isn't that just as 
likely a limitation of the pianos they are performing on?<< 

       I dunno.  I have asked several pianists over the years to play their 
fastest very softly and they all begin to slow down as they approach the softer 
levels.  Try it and see how difficult it is to make the key move rapidly 
without the hammer doing the same.  
 
>>You say that under fast repetition there is no blow distance, again, 
presumably referring to piano dynamic, but, of course, a fast 
repletion produced at forte will have considerable blow distance.<< 

   Not if the hammer is checking at 1/4".   Under fast repetiton, the hammer 
doesn't drop a measurable amount before the jack resets.  While we use hammer 
rise to judge the spring strength, in a reasonably regulated action, fast 
repetition doesn't allow the hammer to move downward from its checking height 
before the jack resets and the note is played again. 

>In  both cases, am I correct in thinking that there is NO hammer checking 
taking place?<

       Under fast repetition, the hammer may or may not touch the backcheck,  
I suppose we will have to wait on a high speed look at an action during fast 
repetition.  Dr. Burkett, you out there???
 
 >>I could not discern anything from trying the key release experiment you 
described.  ?<<

   Ok,  start with this.  play the C4 and hold the note down so that the 
hammer is held in check, then slowly depress B3 so that the hammer doesn't check, 
but rather, stays at drop height.  Then release both keys at the same time and 
observe which key moves more quickly to regular height.  It helps to hold 
them both down with one finger and slide it off so that both keys get the green 
flag at the same time. 

Lastly, with regard to a quote from a different post -
>Alicia de La Roccha played Ravel on a piano I had set up with jacks pinned 
>like this, and told the stage manager it was the first time she had ever 
found a piano
>that needed nothing but tuning.)
If you're that good, why did it even need tuning?<< 
    
 I hadn't tuned it before the rehearsal !! ( and in spite of conventional 
wisdom, Ravel sounds very nice on a Victorian version of ET....)

Regards, 
 
Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html