Tacky Response

[William C Sadler]

Gentlemen,

I am looking for responses to a situation that has occurred, and in defense
of my position.

I am responsible for the varied concert grands in a new concert hall in
Minneapolis.  We recently had a famous choir from Estonia come to this hall
to perform.  They were sponsored by a prominent local musical organization.


Briefly, they needed to perform a piece which required them to put tacks in
all the hammers corresponding to d minor chords in the piano.  I told them
that this presented a problem with the delicate balance in the tension of
the wool of the hammer and that it may seriously jeopardize the integrity
of the hammer.  The response they gave me was that it was ok because the
composer intended the piece and the piano to be this way and that they had
done this in other cities with no problem.????!!!!

Naturally, after the concert, and after the tacks had been removed, all the
d minor chords sounded ( or I should say had a lack of sound) radically
different than the rest of the notes in the piano.

I need responses from you pertaining to tacks in piano hammers not for the
supervisor of the theater but for the underwriters of the concert, who have
agreed to compensate the theater for any damage caused by this preparation.
My feeling is they will continue to say that tacks in hammers do not hurt
anything and I need reinforcement to the contrary.

I have managed to bring uniformity back to the piano but it stole a day of
my time and we intend to charge the underwriters for this time.

Thank-you

William Sadler-RPT
University of Minnesota
School of Music
 Keyboard Technician