[CAUT] Gradually improving voicing

[Horace Greeley]

Quoting David Love <davidlovepianos@comcast.net>:

> Until they read the reviews.

Hmmmm...well, not exactly.

It is an interesting conundrum.  I have heard any number of concerts and
then later read the reviews and/or talked with artist and come away
wondering if we were even in the same place at the same time.

This is especially with what generally passes for piano "tone" now days. 
Most instruments are simply overvoiced (made entirely too loud) to begin
with...somehow, the folks working on them and the people playing them (to
say nothing of the "reveiwer" reviewing the concerts) seem to think that
loud and crashy is all that matters.  Sure, things sound OK, at ppp,
especially if one does not listen too closely.  But, the trip from there to
breaking glass is very quick and often very jerky.

Abram Chasins talked about these kinds of developments way back in 1957,
when he observed that part of the impact of the recording industry was
(even then) that fewer people were actually going to live concerts and/or
listening to music except through their "Hi-Fi"s...(stereo was a bit new,
then).  If one spends much time in the recording studio, one quickly
discovers that the last thing that most engineers want is a piano that
sounds like a piano.  They want it very loud, with no action or damper
noise, and they do not want it do vary much from one end to the other. 
This is why the Baldwin (and later, Yamaha) instruments have been so
popular over the years.  As things have unfolded, even the best pianists
spend most of their listening time in front of their stereo speakers,
listening to pianos recorded with the microphones right up close and
friendly to the strings and hammers...occasionally with an additional pair
of mikes thrown in for "air", but most of the "ambience" added with digital
"enhancement" - the point is, the sound in their head is, most assuredly,
NOT what the audience hears from "X" meteres away...etc., etc., etc.

It is an endless discussion; and, unless one has really had substantive time
in a number of varied settings, it is also one that is ultimately pointless.
 People either get this or they do not.

The reviews will say whatever they say; and, if the instrument is anywhere
close to being in tune, and anywhere close to being reasonably well
regulated and voiced, they will not even notice it...and, even if they do
not, you can fully expect that the instrument will be blamed for whatever
problems the artist might encounter.  The answer is simple - live with it. 
This goes with the territory.

Best.

Horace



>
> David Love
> davidlovepianos@comcast.net
>
>
> ...  generally a pianist doesnt really give a hoot what the piano
> sounds like out in the hall, unless they are out there sitting in it.
> Ok.. I sharpened the point a bit... but its not far from the truth.  A
> player has to feel the instrument has just the right presence on scene.
>
> If he/she feels that,  then they are nearly always satisifed and either
> dont consider the sound out, or just assume it must be ok.
>
> Cheers
> RicB
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