String breakage

[Jeff Tanner]

Dave Porritt wrote:
 "He says that your piano means nothing if  your forte is not forte.  As a
result, both he and his students do break a  lot of strings."

Hi Dave,
I can take my stereo speakers rated at 40 watts each and hook them up to a
250 watt per channel amplifier and get forte I couldn't get from my 40 watt
amp.  I can throw them away afterward, but I got forte.

There is a difference between forte and using the piano as a punching bag.
When they're breaking strings at an abnormal pace, that's abuse.  It is not
at all musical.

Dynamic levels are relative.  If the pp is being played more like mp or mf,
then, yeah, the player is going to have to beat the hell out of the keys to
get that ffff.

And I see pp playing being played at mp/mf here too, and I see a lot of
ffff playing when it only says ff.  And just why is it they won't practice
with the lid up and learn how to play a real pianissimo.  Then they won't
have to beat the keys so hard to hear that the piano is trying to play
fortissimo, but they've got the mute button on?

We now live in a world where we can turn our car radio up to ear piercing,
attend concerts where sound reinforcement systems are designed to blow the
top off the venue, and put on a set of headphones and turn the music up so
loud that people across the room can hear every note.  The piano was never
intended to compete with this, but I think a good many don't seem to
realize that.

I also think a lot of performers don't realize that the piano is much
louder out in front, than at the keyboard.

mythinking
jeff