[CAUT] Appropriate Piano for Small Recital Hall

[Laurence Libin]

Offhand I'd say a typical D is too big for such a room, not because of any 
fault in the piano but because many pianists would tend to overplay it in a 
dry acoustic, especially when accompanying. A 7' grand might serve the music 
better, depending of course on the repertoire and performer.
Laurence

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Milesi, RPT" <paul at pmpiano.com>
To: "PTG CAUT List" <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 11:53 AM
Subject: [CAUT] Appropriate Piano for Small Recital Hall


>I would appreciate some opinions/input regarding preferred piano size for a
> small recital hall in our music department.
>
> The hall has a wooden stage, wooden walls with soundproofing material 
> behind
> them, 110 upholstered seats, a tile floor slanted toward the stage (I
> believe there's a name for that?), and a short drapery behind the middle
> portion of the stage.  Overall, the room is very "dry" rather than "wet"
> sound-wise.
>
> This recital hall is the only performance space located within our small
> music department.  We do have access to other spaces around campus, but 
> they
> and their pianos are not within our control.  This small hall is our 
> primary
> recital space, and currently has a 15-year-old Yamaha C5 (6'6") as a 
> recital
> piano.
>
> The Yamaha is wearing down a little, and we might have the opportunity to
> reclaim a 1970 Steinway D from another venue that actually belongs to the
> Department of Music.  I put new hammers, shanks & flanges last year, but 
> it
> still needs a lot of work to really be a recital instrument (too much 
> gospel
> music over the years).  Big issue is of course budget, but I feel if we
> don't at leat try to reclaim the D now, it will be lost to us as a
> recondition-able, rather than rebuild-able, instrument.  In other words, I
> want to save it from further abuse in the Chapel, and provide them with a
> more suitable piano in terms of their available storage space (small) and
> uses.  The likelihood of the Department acquiring another concert quality
> piano in my lifetime are virtually non-existent, as I see it.  The C5 is
> currently our ONLY performance piano.
>
> So...what are your thoughts on a D (or any other 9'footer, for that 
> matter)
> in this hall?  I think if voiced to the hall (no lacquer applied to the 
> new
> hammers yet), it would be a wonderful piano -- and world's apart from the 
> C5
> (which is still a nice instrument) -- for student and faculty recitals.
> This assumes I can do sufficiently successful reconditioning (several 
> pulley
> keys, balance rail mortises bushed correctly (big mortises from glisses),
> etc.).  Some faculty have thought this piano would be "too big, too much
> sound."
>
> Thanks for sharing your expertise and experience.  I've already gone out 
> on
> a limb for this.  Now I'm having second thoughts, second-guessing myself, 
> so
> I'm anxious to hear what you think.  :)
> -- 
> Paul Milesi, RPT
> Staff Piano Technician
> Howard University Department of Music
> Washington, DC
>
>