Well, there's always magic... David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA 94044 ----- Original message ---------------------------------------- From: "Peter Sumner" <petersumner at mac.com> To: caut at ptg.org Received: 5/9/2010 8:45:15 AM Subject: Re: [CAUT] Capstan relocation questions >The piano is an instrument..the post below acknowledges this and treats it as >such...great points... >Theoretical exercises are absolutely beneficial in explaining and understanding >mechanical relationships...BUT when a pianist plays they have no thoughts about >theory...they are playing, lost in the music...hopefully... >As each pianist brings something individual how can we prepare pianos that give >them the best chance to express their musicality?...does working from mechanical >theories alone produce what they want....? >Yet another idle thought... >P >On May 9, 2010, at 8:14 AM, David Love wrote: >> I don't know about differences in the hand but there are differences >> depending on where you play the key. You could make an argument that since >> when the black keys are played along with the white keys it tends to be >> farther into the white keys. Because the action ratio changes depending on >> where you play the key (it gets higher as you move toward the balance rail) >> then with a higher sharp ratio you might have greater uniformity in actual >> playing. So what does a pianist notice? It's impossible to say. Much >> seems to go unnoticed often. In reality the touch weight dynamics as they >> relate to action ratios are rarely uniform in practice to the pianist >> because they don't really play any two notes in the same proximity to the >> balance rail. While making the ratio between sharps and naturals equal >> makes sense on one hand, a varying action ratio between the two within >> reason probably goes unnoticed. What pianists notice is predictability. If >> the key(s) respond as they expect the will before they play the note they >> will be happy assuming things are set up within reasonable specifications. >> If they have no was to assess what to expect in anticipation of playing a >> note or group of notes, they will be unhappy. >> >> David Love >> www.davidlovepianos.com >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Mark >> Dierauf >> Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 7:14 AM >> To: caut at ptg.org >> Subject: Re: [CAUT] Capstan relocation questions >> >> Many thanks, Ron - your insight is much appreciated. As to your last >> point, my concern is whether this will feel noticeably different to a >> concert level pianist. I may decide, from a purely technical point of >> view, that identical ratios between sharps and naturals are preferable, >> but that doesn't necessarily make the pianist happy. It does seem >> perfectly plausible to me that, given the physiological differences >> between the individual fingers of the hand and the empirical origins and >> long history of the keyboard (and the compositions written for it) that >> there might actually be a compelling argument in favor of differing >> ratios. What I'm wondering is simply whether or not pianists have >> noticed the difference between these two setups and whether their >> reaction was favorable or not. >> >> - Mark >> >> Ron Overs wrote: >>> <div class="moz-text-flowed" style="font-family: -moz-fixed">Mark, >>> >>>> . . . The "magic line" at half-stroke: WNG is recommending using >>>> different heels for the sharps to maintain this, but I'm a little >>>> concerned about how this will actually feel in the finished action. >>> >>> I've been doing this since 2000 when fitting our action. Very often >>> the spacing between the two balance pin lines, for the black and white >>> keys, is incorrect, so the capstan line might need to be located >>> differently for the black and white notes. >>> >>>> After all, pianists have spent the past three centuries getting used >>>> to slightly different touch characteristics between sharps and >>>> naturals, and I want this action to feel good, not unusual. >>> >>> If feeling unusual means that the hammer/key ratio is the same for >>> both black and white keys, then I'd prefer it to feel unusual. >>> >>> Ron O. >>
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