<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title></title> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"> Sarah,<br> <br> I've seen a picture of Glen Gould playing the Goldberg Variations with the fallboard removed. There are some places where the hands cross over each other, which is easy (okay, less difficult) on a two manual keyboard but the fall board gets in the way on a piano.<br> <br> Tom Cole<br> <br> Sarah Fox wrote:<br> <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid001901c503d8$e5314d80$0202a8c0@SarahDell4600"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; "> <meta content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2523" name="GENERATOR"> <style></style> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Hi all,</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">I was watching "Great Balls of Fire" last night, about Jerry Lee Lewis.  I noticed that in a few of the grands they had set up in the movie (which I presume were set up the same way as they were in real life for the guy), the fallboards had been removed.  Of course with his hands flying all over the keyboard, and especially when playing while standing, it's easy to see how fingers colliding with a fallboard could be problematic.  I've had the fallboard removed from my piano for a long time, and although it looks ugly that way, I have to admit it feels nice to have the extra room, especially since I play pretty deeply into the keys.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Question 1:  Do some of the more... er... *energetic* performers request their pianos be set up sans fallboard?</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Question 2:  Are pianos ever permanently set up with a fallboard that can either flip back ~OR~ lift out?  If so, what is the best way to do that -- that doesn't risk scarring up the case with exposed pins, that is?</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">And lastly, a trivia question:  Did Lewis *really* set a piano ablaze (with alcohol dumped all over the soundboard) and perform "Great Balls of Fire" on it?!  <GASP!></font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Peace,</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Sarah</font></div> <div> </div> </blockquote> </body> </html>