<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: Modern Tone II, the Return of the Question</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <BLOCKQUOTE>4. For those = with limited experience and little opportunitity to mentor with someone, ter= ms like "large, dark, powerful, clear, and throaty, with roar and sn= ap at double or triple forte, but NEVER clangy or distorted" just l= eave one guessing as to what they mean. I assume that "dark" means= power in the lower partials not overshadowed by the higher ones (?) but I'd= be guessing about that "roar and snap" thing. This isn't to criti= cize David's description, merely to point out the difficulties and frustrati= ons of communicating sensory perceptions through verbage. I've watch Roger J= olly and Ari Issac do some voicing and marveled at what they can do and how = well they do it. But even trying, in person, to demonstrate and teach voicin= g to a room full of people seems very challenging: "See, the sound i= s now a broad 'Ohhhhh' instead of an "Ehhhhh and it sits higher against= on the shelf."  (Made part of that up .... sorry) I think it's like people describing wines without= giving you a sip: Yes, and this vintage is drier than a moselle, slightl= y nutty, with just a hint of the vine not revealed in the bouqet unless cons= umed at midnight in a graveyard while holding a dead cat. Alan R. Barnard Always Studyin' but Not Always Gettin' It in Salem, MO </BLOCKQUOTE> My friend---I’m just trying to give words to an aural phenomenon, and= it’s tough, but that’s what “developing a tonal memory&#8= 221; means: developing an internal sense of how a piano is “supposed&#= 8221; to sound at all volume and attack levels. If you played the concert gr= ands that Dale Erwin and I brought to the Sacramento PTG Convention, I can s= ay that both of those pianos are in the ballpark of what most artists, techn= icians, and serious listeners would describe as achieving the sonority of th= e 40’s and 50’s pianos---powerful and clear, without distortion = or a brittle quality. There I go again :--) The CDs I mentioned in an earlier post are a good indication of what I&#821= 7;m trying to put in words. If we’d met in Sacramento, I would have gi= ven you a CD that I had a few copies of there---an amazing young jazz player= named Tamir Hendelman, playing trio versions of Christmas songs on a 1923 l= ong A my shop rebuilt.  That piano is a touch brighter, but sounds like= a Bill Evans record, which nearly always had imeccably tuned and voiced pia= nos. It’s a lifetime of listening and learning.  I still feel like a = rank novice a lot of the time. Voicing is a noble challenge. It demands that so many things about the pian= o be right. When you become passionate about the voice of the instrument, your tolerati= on of unregulated and unprepared pianos becomes slimmer and slimmer, and you= r business changes. This coming week, 4 of the 5 days are one long day, or 2= long days, with a good grand piano. It wasn’t like that 6 or 7 years = ago; it was much more tuning 3 or 4 pianos a day. As my ears have grown, my = practice has grown and improved. </BODY> </HTML>