[CAUT] why does it feel better?

[Alan McCoy]

Wim,

This is a very interesting phenomenon. I noticed it a long time ago that I
would do purely mechanical work (no tuning or voicing) and a pianist would
say, "it sounds so much better" or the opposite would happen where I would
just tune or voice the piano and the pianist would remark that it "feels
much better." That taught me that the feedback that pianists get is often
difficult for them to isolate as to whether the information is coming
through their fingers or through their ears. In fact it is both of course.
That some would say it "sounds" better and other would say "feels" led me to
the idea that some pianists are more touch-oriented or touch-sensitive while
others are more tone-sensitive. The information is woven together pretty
tightly for some pianists, especially for the less analytical and more
"artistic" pianists. When I work with pianists and discussing a piano issue
I always ask whether they are getting their information through their
fingers or through their ears. When they can figure it out and articulate
it, it can often be helpful to me in working on the piano.

Alan

-- Alan McCoy, RPT
Eastern Washington University
amccoy at mail.ewu.edu
509-359-4627


> From: Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu>
> Reply-To: "College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>" <caut at ptg.org>
> Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 09:34:00 -0600
> To: "College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>" <caut at ptg.org>
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] why does it feel better?
> 
> Hi Wim,
> I don't want to get into HT/WT versus ET in particular, but I think
> you have to consider the response of a pianist to a piano from a very
> complex, psycho-physical point of view. Say the pianist uses the same
> physical approach, and the piano sounds different. It will "feel
> different" because the feel of what was done has produced a different
> sound. So both voicing and tuning will cause a piano to "feel
> different." Make a bit of sense? It has to do with sensory feedback.
> If, for instance, a pretty light touch produces a relatively "bright"
> sound (due to voicing or unisons being a little off), and then you
> tune the unisons or sugar the crowns, the same light touch is
> producing a less bright sound. "Feels" different. Might be described
> by some as "heavier" (more effort required to produce the same
> sound). Similarly, lacquering hammers might make the piano "feel
> lighter."
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> University of New Mexico
> fssturm at unm.edu
> 
> 
> 
> On Aug 29, 2006, at 8:44 AM, Willem Blees wrote:
> 
>> Many times over the years, I have had customers tell me the piano felt
>> better after I tuned it. One of those times was last week.
>> 
>> We have 2 D's in our Concert Hall, one about 25 years old, and the
>> other just 4 years old. The new one is not being played much. On the
>> advice of Ed Foote, I put a Coleman II on the piano. We had convo on
>> Friday, and I brought out both pianos for the piano professor to try
>> out. He didn't say anything about the tuning, but he did say the new
>> one "felt" better. Another professor also mentioned that the piano
>> played better than ever before.
>> 
>> So why does tuning the piano, not just a regular ET tuning, but also a
>> historical tuning, make the piano feel different?
>> 
>> Wim
>> Willem Blees, RPT
>> Piano Tuner/Technician
>> School of Music
>> University of Alabama
>> Tuscaloosa, AL USA
>> 
>