I think my words have been misunderstood. . First, I was advising Matthew to think more of being a technician whilst being a technician, not as a pianist. Then to use his abilities as a pianist to his advantage, as the trained fingers will always more sensitive than the non trained. My example of Brendal is the finest example.. he was never satisfied with his voicings until he did it himself or showed the technician what he wanted. The article in Steve Brady's book is a good one. Kristian Zimmerman is another example of a pianist not happy with his piano preparation.. Does it all himself. With working with pianists, we have to "translate their talk into our technical language and then solve their problem, and then reassure the pianist back into their language" At times it is not easy, and being a pianist is a great advantage. Just last week I had to explain the differences to a pianist who was selecting a piano for a concerto performance. He was not interested in key dip, hammer strike distance etc., he was interested in what it sounds like, and how it would sound in the venue, and why I was recommending this piano. An understanding of the pianists ability and personality, the repertoire , venue, size of orchestra, all helps to collaborate with others a to make a fine performance. It is completely obvious that the problem in Matthew's piano is the jack position.. we agree on that... I was pointing out that the reason he found the two different results was actually the speed of the jack. The techniques I described were using different jack speeds. Pianists would describe it completely different. The information gained from the keyboard is the only way of finding out what is going on inside whilst the action is being used. Using different techniques is a great advantage. That is not the dispute. To be blunt I was saying.. Find problem. solve problem. We are the fix it people. Another way of finding the problem is to push down on the key and place a finger on top of the hammer at the same time. If the jack is wrong...it will misfire.....That is in my pre concert check list, with many other non musical tests. Don't have to be a maestro to do that. Personally I hate playing the piano around world class musicians. I am definitely not there for my musical abilities. Hope this explains Regards Brian Wilson OZ _____ From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of PAULREVENKOJONES at aol.com Sent: Sunday, 1 March 2009 11:33 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Regulation Question In a message dated 2/28/2009 6:35:49 P.M. Central Standard Time, pianocare2 at bigpond.com writes: Hello Matthew You are getting pianism confused with being a technician. It is great for a pianist to be a technician, however sometimes it just doesn't work. Some of our finest technicians are also extraordinary pianists, and vice-versa, and use their pianistic sensibility to their advantage--e.g. Fred Sturm in NM. I would love to hear him chime in on this. Your technique of playing the key whilst lifting your hand is a proven pianist technique. As you wrote, it is good for producing the higher volumes and I have to add that it is a good technique for producing a quality tone at these levels. Having said that, this technique controls the speed of the hammer better than just using finger speed. I haven't explained this as properly as I have wanted, but it will have to do. The technique used by most technicians whilst tuning is not a technique used by pianists. All we care about is using the key to use the action to perform our work. Pianism and tuning do not meet here.The technician uses speed and weight to achieve tuning stability.. And it produces an awful tone. Aren't you confusing tuning touch and technical touch? And don't we work for our pianists? If we can mimic a pianistic touch which gives us information, even by contrast with the forte or fortissimo blow which creates the mis-fire, then by that differentiation we can find useful information. The key works with one touch, and not with another. That, I think, was Matthew's observation. It made sense to me, since it helped me to visualize the jack top contacting the knuckle in one way, and in the obvious other way. So your technicians touch tells you there is a problem in the action. Think as a technician..... find problem and fix problem. Use the pianists touch for voicing and playing. Use your pianistic skills to your advantage after applying the technical knowledge. Well, no. Use the pianist's touch to create information. And think as a technician and a pianist if you have both skills. Why would you purposefully dismiss a domain of information which will help you diagnose problems in the piano. The keyboard is a data base; it gives us information if we know how to coax it out. Again, my bet was on the jack's being too far forward and misfiring on the heavier blow, but working, just barely, on the lighter "pianistic" touch. I may lose the bet, but my argument stands. :-) Paul _____ A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See <http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1218822736x1201267884/aol?redir=htt p:%2F%2Fwww.freecreditreport.com%2Fpm%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fsc%3D668072%26hmpgID% 3D62%26bcd%3DfebemailfooterNO62> yours in just 2 easy steps! No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.237 / Virus Database: 270.11.4/1976 - Release Date: 02/28/09 17:21:00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090301/f33579fb/attachment-0001.html>
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