<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV> HAMMERMAKER’S CORNER 11   Ari Isaac.     I was making hammers now. The year was 1982. They had a large, round = tone in which a number of partials, along with a strong fundamental, were easily = audible. A long sustain and a wide range of musical color but… = sales, that year were slow. Looking back on it now it’s not surprising since Isaac = Cadenza hammers were the new boy on the block. To me it was a deep = disappointment. I’d put so much money and effort into making a hammer that, easily, got more = tone out of a piano than anything I’d used, the slowness of sales at = that time started me thinking about why I should go on, why bother. Then something = happened that gave me back the resolve which had carried me thus = far. The convention had been a pretty good one, New York state conventions = were good ones in those years, they probably still are. We were sitting at a = banquet, the gathering was friendly and cheerful, everyone was enjoying the = concert laid on by the chapter and played by a music major from a near by, well known = music school. He was playing pieces by Liszt, Scarlatti, Mozart, maybe some = Chopin and he was playing them very well; his fingers moved nimbly over the keys = and he didn’t miss a note. The music sounded as interesting as see = through plastic. No passion! No color, no expression. During one of the breaks between = pieces I turned to Hanna and said; <UL> <LI>the piano sounds like a Steinway M – </LI></UL> the chap sitting on my other sideturned towards me and said <UL> <LI>- no, Ari, he is playing a steinway D. – </LI></UL> At first I couldn’t believe him although I knew he was just = being nice. How could a Steinway D sound like a Steinway M? and no color in the = man’s playing? The realization came to me in a flash, he could not get color out of = the piano because the hammers didn’t have any color to give. Also, if, = during his years of studying music, he was playing on instruments that = couldn’t produce colorful musical tone how could he ever learn to play with expression, = passion and color? That’s when I realized it, in the case of pianos = it’s the instrument that makes the musician. I am convinced that when a player hears a = difference in musical color while playing the keys with varying intensity, he or she = will be drawn to play with musical expression. It was at that point I decided to go on. Sales would improve, as they = have. If music is important, and, to me it is, then hammers that produce a = musical tone need to be made available. What is a ‘musical’ tone? = This is one of the many words whose meaning is suggested by the user to imply a general understanding but, in practice, has no such understanding automatically attached. The term ‘musical’, while liable to benefit from = an occasional attempt at a definition, actually enjoys more of a visceral understanding than = most other such adjectives. Consider, for a start, the many bowed string = instruments built in Italy from 1560 through 1730. A pretty early period and = yet… No one now or since has succeeded in matching their tone. To me they suggest the = idea of musical tone was well understood even then. So what is = ‘musical’ tone? My own definition is, like everyone else’s, subjective by = virtue of my own, subjective pair of ears. We gain awareness of tone subjectively but my = awareness of musical tone is based on many years of listening to a wide range of instruments; recorded and live, all of which have conveyed the same = tonal impression. Other instruments I’ve listened to, no fewer in = number, have conveyed a different tonal impression. The similarity of tonal = impressions emitted by the finest instruments; pianos, violines, celli, woodwinds = and brass, makes up the objective component of my conception of = ‘musical’ tone. To me, a ‘musical’ tone must permit you to hear three or = more frequencies simmultaneously; the fundamental frequency will be the dominating one = but the other two or three need to be clearly and distinctly audible. When = listening to a musical tone I do not need to be able to identify the non fundamental frequencies so clearly as to be able to sing them but if I cannot = clearly distinguish three or four frequencies - the tone is not a musical tone. = The second feature of a ‘musical’ tone is its sustain = (this pertains to the piano). The sustain needs to extend to all of the audible frequencies of = a note. The difference between the attack – what is known as the = ‘transient’ in the recording industry – and the part of the note immediately = following, needs to be small. The attack needs to flow smoothely into the bloom of the note. = The greater the audible difference between the attack and the rest, or, the = bloom of the note – the more percussive and the less musical the tone. I = hear people saying "Sometimes you want a percussive tone". True, but sometimes you = want a cold shower or coffee with no sugar or a good argument, fight, with your = wife, girl friend, husband or boy friend, it adds spice but it doesn’t = change the definition. The third and most elusive component of ‘musical’ tone is = the color range. For all but the finest instruments there is only, mostly, a volume = change with no audible color change. The grouping of audible partials along with the = fundamental for a given intensity, loudness, remains constant throughout = the volume range – that is about as far from ‘musical’ as = it’s possible to get. For the finest instruments the grouping of partials along with the = fundamental frequency changes along with the change of intensity, loudness, = producing the rich range of shades, gradations, nuances referred to as tonal color. = These three components of tone are the ones I have aimed for and, for = the most part, succeeded in building into Isaac Cadenza hammers. Cadenza hammers will, ;sometimes, require some tweaking to match them = to either a particular hall or the responsiveness (or lack thereof) of a = sounding board, but the tonal components that, ;to me, make up a musical tone are = always there. </DIV></BODY></HTML>