soft, bass trill regulation

[William Ballard]

At 8:13 PM -0700 8/30/05, Greg Graham wrote:
>For minimum volume, the hammer must travel with
>minimum velocity when it strikes the string.  For
>fastest repetition, the hammer must travel from the
>string to the point where the jack stops it and back
>to the string as quickly as possible.  To satisfy both
>minimum volume and maximum repetition, the distance
>the hammer travels must be minimized, certainly much
>less than full blow distance.  Half blow?  Less than
>checking distance?  Obviously, the "trill blow
>distance" must be more than let-off, or the jack would
>never touch the knuckle.

You have a clear grasp of special complexities of this situation. 
Yes, the  hammer's speed cannot be the thing which is adjusted to 
reduce volume. It has to be be amount of the key stroke used to 
executes the repeated notes. And execution with a reduced keystroke 
always puts the pianist's control at greater risk.

>The jack should be waiting just under the knuckle at
>this much-reduced blow distance, which leads me to
>conclude that the key should be one-half, two-thirds,
>or even more through its travel when the hammer
>reaches this shallow "bottom".  Does that sound right?

There is still the issue of whether this is being done at the top of 
the stroke or the bottom, two entirely different ways of delivering a 
hammer to a string. Your description seems to imply the bottom of the 
stroke.

>Normally we set drop so that the hammer does not rise
>above the let-off point at full key dip, but rather
>ends up close to let-off.  What if we set drop a
>little lower, so the jack had something to push
>against in a very shallow trill, with the performer
>lowering the wippen enough to get the jack under the
>knuckle, but not enough to disengage the rep lever
>from the drop screw?  A sensitive performer should be
>able to feel that point of simultaneous
>let-off/drop-screw engagement and stay there, no?
>Actually, I suppose lowering the drop screw would
>slightly separate the ideally simultaneous contact.

IOW, using an extended (but only slightly, subtly) contact with rep 
lever pressure as a cue to the pianist, as to how far from escapement 
he is getting in he brief return stroke.

>If, in the bass, let-off was 1/8th, and drop another
>1/8th, with 1/16th rise during aftertouch, Would a
>3/16th inch "trill blow distance" be possible and
>repeatable?

Those dimension are much fatter than normally occur in a performance 
piano, but the idea is still interesting.

At 9:09 AM -0500 8/30/05, Barbara Richmond wrote:
>Here is a link to Fleisher's most recent recording (Two Hands) that includes
>the Schubert, though on Amazon, the example (Molto moderato) is listed being
>by Bach (tsk, tsk): 
>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002IQHHK/qid=1125409133/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl15/002-4695477-0578431?v=glance&s=classical&n=507846#product-details

I just listened to this, and his trill is not that different from 
what I heard. Just in case (and to support Leon Fleisher as an 
artist), I've ordered a copy so as to hear this trill in CD-quality. 
(And I bet I can convince my accountant that this is a business 
expense.)

Mr. Bill

"Can you check out this middle C?. It "whangs' - (or twangs?)
     Thanks so much, Ginger"
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