[CAUT] Pianos for piano performance majors

[Fred Sturm]

On Mar 31, 2006, at 11:17 AM, Jim Busby wrote:
> Thanks Fred
> I never thought much about the hammers being considered. As a  
> pianist (leave off your technician hat, if you can) when you sit  
> down to a piano do you find an immediate difference in expression  
> between the two hammer types, or is it very subtle?
>
> Would a non-tech pianist be aware of this or are you hypersensitive  
> to it? I’m trying to get into the performers head, if you will.
>
>
>
> Jim Busby

	Well, that would depend on a lot of things: sensitivity of pianist  
(varies all over the place), voicing techniques of the tech, yadda,  
yadda. But, given pianos prepped to the max and reasonably sensitive  
pianists, I would venture to say that it would be a difference  
apparent to most. I'm not going to say that most would prefer one or  
the other, just that there would be a perceived difference  of range  
of response. Personally, for most of the music I play, I prefer a  
well-needled hard-press hammer. Which isn't to say that I don't like  
a well-voiced Steinway lacquered hammer - I guess I perform and  
record much more often on them, and I am (or can be) satisfied most  
of the time.
	When you come down to it, there is so much variance between  
individual pianos of any make, and so much variance in taste among  
pianists, and considerable difference in prepping standards and  
tastes among techs - it's hard to state anything conclusively. It is,  
I think, quite possible to get both types of hammer to sound nearly  
identical. Depends how you work them. I do think there will always be  
tonal shadings available in a resilient well-needled hard-press that  
can't be created in a lacquered hammer. Subtle to some, blatantly  
obvious to others.
	I do happen to be a pianist who loves variety. I don't want every  
piano I play to be the same. The variety inspires me to try something  
a little different. I don't know if that is common among pianists or  
not. I'm sure there are others like me, and that there are those who  
want the familiar, the thing they are used to, predictability.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu
  "Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to  
shape it."
Bertolt Brecht

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