[CAUT] Speaking of stability......

[johnsond]

Hi again-

Thanks for the comments.  That's certainly an impressive program at 
Juilliard....!  I think you emphasized the main issue at stake, which is 
defending the amount of time we require in the hall to maintain the 
standard that is expected there.  It's an uncomfortable argument to make 
when we know that the players are often not getting all the rehearsal 
time they desire either.  So it goes- but that aside, and back to the 
pianos,  what I was really thinking about in terms of more time on 
performance concert grands was not all the regulation and voicing, but 
rather the fact that I can tune a nice 6' grand with say a 4 cent pitch 
adjustment in 2 hours or less and confidently know that it is rock solid 
stable and beautifully tuned as good as possible.  I can not say the 
same for a concert grand. In fact about the only time I can know for 
sure that I'll feel that good about the tuning on a concert grand is if 
there is no adjustment at all.  It's this difference that I was hoping 
to quantify in more understandable or specific terms.   There is also 
the real issue on our own part of perhaps sometimes taking the whole 
experience too personally.  We want to keep the "magic" going.  It's so 
cool when that happens and is appreciated.  It's simply not possible for 
"magic" to happen all the time- same with performances, and musicians do 
understand that. 

cheers~

dennis.
St. Olaf College