Tips from a pianist

[Vanderhoofven]

At 12:31 AM 4/2/96 -0700, you wrote:

>
>As a pianist who has taken a serious interest in regulation and voicing,
><snip> ... I have a few pet peeves that I would like to share with you,
errors in piano care that I find repeatedly on my tours.
<snip>
>1) Very rarely
>do I find a piano on which the hammers have been properly fitted to the
>strings.  Hardly anything is as important as this for a beautiful, even
>sonority; it is even more important than voicing even, and should be done
>before voicing, and if possible checked again after, as needling or filing can
>throw it off once more.

>Anton Kuerti
>76063.737@compuserve.com

Dear Anton (and the Pianotech List),

I really appreciate your comments, because it is unsual to find a pianist
who also knows very much about voicing and regulation!  I am sure we can all
benefit from your unique perspective on things.  Thank you!

I was thinking about the comments about fitting the hammers to the strings
for even tone.  You mentioned that it is rare that you find a piano where
the hammers are carefully fitted to the strings.  There could be several
reasons for this.

1.  Perhaps the piano technician who services those pianos doesn't know how
to fit the hammers properly to the strings.  This could be addressed by
increased awareness of the problem and more training and education of those
technicians who are not as familiar with this this aspect of voicing.

2.  Perhaps the piano technician who services those pianos is an expert, and
is very good at concert tuning, regulating and voicing.  But perhaps the
piano owner is not made aware of the importance of this work because the
technician either did not inform them of the need, or because the technician
doesn't know how to "sell" his talents and abilities well.  This problem
could be overcome by education of piano technicians in other areas, such as
business training, and sales techniques.

3.  Perhaps the piano owner has a competent piano technician, and perhaps
the technician educated the piano owner as to the importance of this work,
but perhaps there is just not enough money in the budget for "extra work".
In this case, the piano owner could be educated as to how proper maintenance
will really improve the quality of the tone of the piano, and the importance
of scheduling room in the budget for such NECCESARY items such as regulation
and voicing.

In all three of these scenarios, the end result is that the work ends up not
being done, and the music suffers.  I think the key that will bring change
is EDUCATION!  Education of piano technicians in tuning, regulation and
voicing, education of piano technicians in good sales techniques, and
education of the piano owner as to the importance of the work that can be
done to improve the piano.  Education is the key.

We can't afford not to get as much as education as possible.  Once the piano
technician is properly educated, then it is up to the piano technician to
educate the piano owner.  The end result is that pianists everywhere will be
happier!

Well, I am down off my soap-box now!

Thanks to Mr. Kuerti and to all of you on Pianotech!

Sincerely,




David A. Vanderhoofven
dkvander@clandjop.com
Joplin, Missouri, USA
Associate Member, Piano Technicians Guild
web page:  http://www.clandjop.com/~dkvander/