[CAUT] Piano Response or how heavy the action is.

[Richard Brekne]

Hi all

I've used this last school year to pay very close attention to what 
various pianists mean by "the piano is heavy" or "it is light"... i.e. 
what usually most of us would think in terms of physical weight of the 
action and have come to the conclusion that the greatest majority of 
pianists simply are not concerned with, and perhaps not even 
significantly affected by (at least directly) physical weight concerns.  
For them it is simply a matter of what they hear in response to how much 
energy they use to play. They also seem to for the most part base their 
appreciation (positive and negative) for a piano based on whether they 
like a very responsive instrument or one that requires more effort to 
drive into brilliance.  It seems like only when they get into issues of 
repetition and the like are they concerned with things that touch on the 
actions physical properties.

Case in point... we've a CFIII that has specified 59-57 grams downweight 
and a minimum of 25 grams upweight by the factory compared to a S&S D 
that is 50-47.  Now thats a chunky difference really.  Yet the Yamaha, 
which was allowed to get bright, overly bright really has been described 
by every single pianist this year as being much lighter then the S&S.  
The S&S is simply darker voiced... and really not allllll that much so.  
Friction issues have been purposely addressed on both to isolate that 
from the situation.

I have no doubt that despite this very precise balancing and evening out 
of action weights and key to key ratio can and does play a very 
significant role in how the pianist overall perceives (positive or 
negative) the piano, but in the end... it is the voicing of the 
instrument that is the key to the pianists sensation of whether the 
instrument is "good" or "bad", and most certainly whether the instrument 
is heavy or light.  Real physical impedance only indirectly affects this 
perception.

Cheers
RicB