[CAUT] Rzewski forearm smash

David Love davidlovepianos at comcast.net
Thu Dec 16 12:23:24 MST 2010


Can you explain why a "smash" would be more stabilizing than a normal test
blow?  How do you know that the smash didn't destabilize the pitch so that
the next time you hit the note it won't go out of tune?  It's
counterproductive.  Once the pin and the string segments are in equilibrium
or stasis no further smashing of the piano will make them more stable.  

 

David Love

www.davidlovepianos.com

 

From: Jack Houweling [mailto:jackhouweling at dccnet.com] 
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 11:16 AM
To: davidlovepianos at comcast.net; caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Rzewski forearm smash

 

Hi David,

Can you explain why "smashes" are a waste of effort.

 

Regards,

Jack Houweling

Sent from my iPhone


On Dec 16, 2010, at 9:44 AM, David Love <davidlovepianos at comcast.net> wrote:

Yes, though employing forearm smashes (or even more vigorous individual note
"smashes") as test blows in the hope that it will help achieve greater
stability is a waste of effort.



David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com

  _____  

From: Alan Eder <reggaepass at aol.com> 

Sender: caut-bounces at ptg.org 

Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:38:33 -0500 (EST)

To: <caut at ptg.org>

ReplyTo: caut at ptg.org 

Subject: Re: [CAUT] Rzewski forearm smash

 

Rzewski is one of those pianists/composers with an intensely physical
relationship with the instrument (to not put too fine a point on it!).

Alan Eder

-----Original Message-----
From: Zeno Wood <zeno.wood at gmail.com>
To: College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Wed, Dec 15, 2010 12:29 pm
Subject: [CAUT] Rzewski forearm smash

In case you happen to be preparing a piano for Rzewski's Down By the
Riverside, I recommend giving it the forearm smash about 50 times, because
it happens about 49 times during the piece.

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