prepared

[William E. Darst]

>We have several "designated hitters" which the composition people
>and other inside players are required to use.  We try very hard
>to make those piano work for them and thereby keep them off the
>good stuff.  The flip side of the coin is that over time the
>hitters have been damaged to a point where some of the inside
>players can hardly use them.  It is one thing to have just the
>damper heads you want to play marked but when they are all marked
>up it is hard to see your own marks.  Tuning also gets tricky
>because junk that has been stuck to the strings causes funny
>things to happen to partials.  Beats get weird as a result.
>
>We have posted a notice that the concert grands are not to be
>used for inside playing.  Most of the time this is observed.  We
>provide a  piano for inside use and try to accommodate their
>needs as best we can.  This limits any damage done to 1 or 2
>pianos.
>
    Your mention of dampers and markings prompts me to jump into this on
going discussion to throw in my 2 bits and to mention something that I did
last year when we had our annual new music festival requiring multiple
prepared situations.  I installed small squares of velcro inside each plate
strut adjacent to the damper row on the designated "victim-pianos."  I then
cut some pieces of plexiglass to be located over each section of dampers
and  attached them to the velcro squares with small velcro straps at each
end.  They could be adjusted so as not to interfere with the damper's rise
and could be marked and remarked either with felt pens, grease pencils or
labels.  Since we had two pianos of the same make and model in different
locations we were able to use one location for rehearsals and the hall
instrument for the performance without the preparer needing to remark
anything.

     In general, I find that for me, the key to all of this, as in many
things, is communication.  I try to keep in touch with what people are
doing and to show an interest, even if I can't get too thrilled about a
particlar genre.  I feel lucky that the composition faculty and I have good
rapport.  Most of them seem to share my concerns about the pianos and give
me all of the details regarding a given preparation or unconventional use
situation in advance.  The festival held here each Spring is very
complicated and involves inside and outside people and ensembles, students
and faculty.

    All that said, I have had a few surprises. . . like the day I happened
to stick my head into the recital hall from my shop area which is next to
it (I heard some rather harsh slapping noises) and observed a faculty
member slamming down the fallboard repeatedly on the 'D' for a student
composition that was being "unveiled" for his class.  A little
"communication" followed immediately.

     Bill Kraft, a fairly noted composer, teaches here and two years ago
one of his prepared pieces was performed which required a veritable
hardware store of screws, nuts, and assorted stuff.  Once that piano was
prepared it was prepared for the duration (about two weeks).  I tuned it
before the junkyard went into it and that was that.  In examining all of
the items however, I noted that he had gone to a lot of trouble to use
rather soft metals and to choose sizes that fit easily between strings so
as not to put bends and kinks in anywhere.  That was a practical lesson for
me, in as much as when the items were removed no reminders of their
presence was left behind.  Whereas, in another situation (involving some
other less schooled individuals) where *no* items were used, but rather
note 88 and its octave below were played FFF over and over and over
throughout a piece, the top hammerfelt was split to the molding and several
strings were broken!

     I would like to hear more observations on this subject.



Bill Darst, RPT
Music Dept
UC Santa Barbara