[CAUT] Corigliano

[Fred Sturm]

On Jul 29, 2010, at 7:50 PM, Zeno Wood wrote:

> Yes, my plan is to borrow an ETD (some of my best friends use ETDs)  
> to set the starting A.  Like Ron says, there's a learning curve to  
> the ETDs, and one concert at the height of the Fall concert season  
> is probably not a good starting point.
>
> That said, I brought it up more to see if anyone had any experience  
> with other issues related to large pitch changes.  Apart from  
> putting in a bunch of time on tuning, is there anything to watch out  
> for relating to strings, hammers, voicing issues, etc.?


	We had a 1/4 tone piece by Ives performed a couple times last year.  
As it happened, I just got a floater piano at that point (donated  
instrument that came back from a major remanufacture), and so I put it  
1/4 step flat. It was that way for rehearsals for a few weeks and the  
concert, then back to pitch. Then the other student decided she wanted  
to do it on her recital so it went back down and back up. I noticed no  
problems other than getting the tuning well stabilized (I was also  
fighting a new restring). But it wasn't one of my concert grands, and  
I would think that would be more of a challenge (especially getting it  
back to pitch and stable for concerts in very short order).
	As a practical matter, I thought using an outside floater piano  
worked very well, as it could be kept at low pitch for a good while  
for rehearsal, and I would assume that would be pretty desirable for  
the performers. Taking one of the concert instruments out of useful  
circulation for more than a few days would present real problems at  
our place. But maybe you have enough instruments that it isn't such a  
big deal.
	There is some very interesting music for microtonal tuning on piano,  
like this stuff for two instruments 1/4 tone apart, and also a fair  
amount written for the Sauter 1/16 tone piano (97 notes, one octave  
range). I got a CD of 1/16 tone music from the factory, and it is  
really quite amazing - the range of expression used by different  
composers was astonishing in its variety. Completely different  
"vocabulary and grammar" making use of the possibilities.
	BTW, for pitch, if you want to avoid ETD, compare A3 for the piano to  
be tuned 1/4 step flat with A3 and G#3 of the piano at pitch (not A4).  
The beat rates will be well within audible limits. At A4, the  
difference is about 12 - 13 bps. An octave lower it is in the 6 - 7  
range. So make your A3 for the 1/4 tone flat beat about the same to  
both A3 and G#3 of the piano at 440 and you will be close enough.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain