[CAUT] tone color

[Fred Sturm]

On Feb 24, 2011, at 4:16 PM, Douglas Wood wrote:

>  It's really easy to bring out a melody in the tenor, even if it's  
> pretty soft. Right, Fred?


Not necessarily, depending on the voicing gradient and style. There  
are times I find it difficult to make a tenor to bass melody or accent  
sound clean enough to project through what is going on above. When it  
is a matter of a clear cut tenor melody against an accompaniment, that  
is usually not a problem, but it is the in between stuff where  
something needs to be just a bit foreground, or "stand out in the  
crowd enough to be heard distinctly." It isn't necessarily that the  
hammers are voiced "too soft" but rather possibly "too muddy," if that  
means anything to you.
	In practical terms, with a hard pressed hammer it means that the  
crown voicing needs to be quite shallow, that the "tear-drop point"  
under it is distinct, that the deep needling up to the top, especially  
right up toward the top, is controlled and not too deep (the converse  
of these things leading toward "mud"). For lacquer, it is sort of  
analogous, with the idea that the attack zing of the lacquer is  
reduced but not entirely eliminated, that perhaps the single needle  
goes in mostly at an angle away from the tip of the molding and the  
sugar coating is controlled, not chaotic.
	Clarity/focus is what I value the most, bottom to top. I can live  
with a lot of warts if I have clarity. There needs to be some "ring"  
available with a bit more effort, everywhere, even the tenor and bass  
(yes, you tone it down to balance, but don't go too far and eliminate  
it).  And I don't think you can overstate the contribution of refined  
travel/square/mate (all three together) in getting that kind of  
consistent focus at a full range of dynamic levels (I think it has to  
do with the hammer string contact period, making it happen  
consistently rather than chaotically, as it will with wobbly hammer  
and out of phase strings, producing unpredictable tone color, not a  
smooth curve corresponding to force).
	But I am a little on the eccentric side of things - I play repertory  
that relies heavily on the coloristic character of the piano, probably  
more than the standard classical/romantic stuff. What I do is more  
revealing and less forgiving. More fun, too <G>.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
"Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them." Coco  
Chanel