The Good kind of Heavy

[Richard Brekne]

Barbara Richmond wrote:
> 
> >
> > Well.. I spend a good deal of time talking to the students and faculty
> > and getting them to understand this <<separation of touch and tone>>
> 
> Do you emphasize the separation just to aid in your experiment?  Or do you
> think this will help them in expressing their concerns with you and future
> techs?  It's not that I don't believe in educating pianists, because I do
> (and I do it all the time).  But there is a lot to know and sometimes they
> don't quite understand. 

Sure there are difficulties. I think one of the jobs of a pianotech,
especially one who deals with demanding pianists on a regular basis, is
to learn how to understand in pianotech terms what the pianist is saying
in their way. As much for being able to meet their demands as best
possible as for anything else. But its also important to help them to
understand that in dealing with a technician they need to be able to
express as clearly and precisely as is possible from a technical
standpoint. Sure... its an uphill battle, but then communication in
general always is IMB.  


> Haven't you heard wonderful musicians say with
> great authority something that was so off the wall that it was hard not to
> laugh?
> 

Oh yes :):) They are just like us in that regard !


> I know it's possible to separate touch from tone, but the connection is so
> strong and can be sooooo deceiving, but I guess I've said that before....

Agreed. But you do the best you can to zoom in on whats what at any
given time, yes ??

 
> Can you do me a favor?  Next time you are talking to someone about the heavy
> (but good) touch, ask them what it allows them to achieve musically (or, if
> you will, does it allows something else not possible on other pianos).  Just
> say there is a nutty female tech in the US that wants to know.  ;-)

Thats a good question to put at them for sure, tho no doubt the answers
are going to be vague and wildly variant. Asking a pianist to express
something in terms of musicality is asking them to speak their own
language... that of the mage as it were :) That said, I dont think they
play this piano much for its musicality... its for excersise. Again
tho.. it will be interesting to see how that picture developes as this
instrument slowly gets put back into reasonably decent shape.


>  
> I understand that.  I did five and half years of what seemed to me like MASH
> UNIT work (on 90 instruments), and just when the going got good, my husband
> accepted a job 900+  miles away.  Dang.
> 

Bummer... MASH UNIT work...grin.. I like that concept here. Fits pretty
good. Tho it does give you the freedom to experiement with pianos and
pianists. 

> > I started off rock hard, and was played thus for a while, got
> > reshaped and very needled down to a mush tone, and has hardened up again
> > a couple times. Each time I make a change I start fishing for comments.
> 
> >. The whole purpose being to seek answers to exactly
> > these kinds of questions. This one makes my head scratch... as it seems
> > to break a lot of the rules we generally agree on about touch do's and
> > don'ts.
> 
> Aw, but don't you know?  There are always exceptions to the rules!  Isn't
> that the only constant?  :-)

True enough... but this one is strange if you ask me. By nearly all
rights this piano should not recieve positive touch comments. It started
off with wildly variant hammer weights, even more variant front weights,
based on a high ratio (6.4 SWR) and heavy hammers, all evened out in
terms of BW by strong springs which no doubt had large variances in
strengths. Fly away hammer centers, low friction levels in general (tho
they are higher now). 


> 
> > I have another instrument that has been receiving comments lately of
> > being heavy in a "bad way" Again... very largely voicing independent...
> > recently had strikeweights and frontweights evened out to get a 38 gram
> > balance weight without regard to the existing action ratio. Just evened
> > out what was. The like the evenness to be sure... but the touch wears
> > them down. I'll have to pull it and supply you all with the same kind of
> > data soon.
> 
> Thanks, Ric, this discussion has been fun.
> 
> Barbara Richmond, RPT
> somewhere near Peoria, IL
> 

Thanks to YOU Barbara :)  Illinois....  isnt that a suburb of Algona
Iowa or something ?? :)

Cheers
RicB