[CAUT] Sustain in modern grands: was S S model M

[Fred Sturm]

On Dec 6, 2009, at 10:54 AM, Ed Sutton wrote:
>
> In my shop I have a rescue piano, on which I have tested several of  
> the technologies for increasing sustain. They work, and the piano is  
> no fun to play.
>
> Ed S.


	I would concur in wondering just how much sustain we expect, and what  
is actually musically useful. I can't say I really understand what  
standards people are applying, since giving a number of seconds  
doesn't really tell the story. What happened during those seconds? How  
fast did it decay? Where did you measure the end? When the sound  
became utterly imperceptible? When it hid X dB?
	Until we are all talking the same language with respect to those  
questions, and looking at the whole decay envelope, we can't really  
compare notes very well. But in any case, I am not so sure degree of  
sustain in the killer octave is as important as some of us think. In  
actual performance, when "singing sustain" is needed it is usually  
provided by the pedal, which means that you have the reinforcement of  
the corresponding partials of all the lower notes. So what happens  
when you play an isolated note doesn't really relate one to one with  
how it behaves in the piano.
	I'm not saying sustain in that area isn't important, just questioning  
how we measure it and what the standard should be. I find that I am  
perfectly happy with some instruments where that isolated test would  
probably lead me to say it was pretty lacking, but in performance I  
don't notice it. I suppose that depends on the repertory being played  
to some extent as well.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu