repetition/backcheck problem

[Israel Stein]

At 07:32 AM 8/25/98 -0500, Richard Moody wrote:
>One teacher I had was a good pianist, another was a very good pianist. 
>Both used to pull this rapid repitition "trick" two fingers, (one finger
>two hands, machine gunning if you will) to test my regulation. (The hammer
>instead of checking would "catch" (bind)  on the back check) Their point
>was with ultra fine regulation (esp rep spring strength and check height)
>this amelorates the problem, but in some notes, and some pianos it can
>always happen. Which I eventually proved when I applied this test to their
>own pianos.  : < ) 
>	One claimed he could make nine out of ten pianos fail on a certain Mozart
>passage. (I FORGOT the piece, DUH) He didn't make the claim that it was an
>impish impulse of Mozart to compose such a piece that would tax the
>mechanism, but I will.

One can't compose a piece to tax a mechanism that hadn't been invented yet.
Of all the amazing faculties attributed to Mozart I don't remember reading
about prescience... You might wish to study a Mozart-era Viennese action or
two before indulging in such speculation - you might discover that the
playing technique described above will likely break the letoff beak (ask me
how I know...) Besides, since both the hammer/kapsel assembly and the
backcheck (at least in Mozart's Walter built piano) are mounted directly on
the key lever, the relationship between hammer and backcheck always remains
constant, no matter how the piano is played. (The pinblock mounted
backchecking of the Stein piano never really works, so let's not even
mention that).  

Israel Stein