[CAUT] Should performers rule? (Was Lacquered hammers)

[Fred Sturm]

On Feb 22, 2011, at 8:37 PM, Ron Nossaman wrote:

> No. None of the people I've heard the comment from were pounding on  
> the piano. Their comment, according to them, had more to do with  
> control throughout the dynamic range, particularly the pianissimo.


I wasn't meaning they were necessarily "pounders," but that they  
lacked the nuanced control of touch of an accomplished, professional  
level pianist. It works at all levels of the spectrum, low and high,  
and has to do with how small a change you can make in the action of  
your mechanism (personal mechanism, hand/wrist/arm). Less accomplished  
pianists can make less nuanced differences, so they find it  
particularly hard to play pianissimo - unless the voicing is  
relatively soft, and the regulation is tight. With a more controlled  
tonal spectrum, where larger differences in touch are required to make  
changes in tone, they will find it much easier to play with the  
expression they are after.
	All of which is fine, and I have no problem whatsoever with the  
practice of designing and building pianos to meet that demand and  
need. (Or just voicing and regulating or selecting hammers for the  
same need). It is probably a bigger market than the "serious  
professional" market. OTOH, I think it is delusional to suppose that  
such standards and criteria (in shorthand, a limited spectrum with a  
relatively shallow voicing gradient and a leveled off top) will meet  
acceptance in the concert hall. Even if lots of other identified  
problems (scaling breaks, etc) are solved or at least improved. If you  
can deal with the warts and also have a broader and steeper tonal  
spectrum, that doesn't cap off, then I think you have a good chance of  
success. I've seen/heard that in Ron Overs' pianos, for instance. (And  
I don't really mean to be addressing you, Ron N, personally, as I have  
very little personal experience with your instruments, and really  
don't have enough to go on to form a judgment).
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain