RE RE Aftertouch

[Kenneth Sloane]

                      Subject:                              Time:  10:49 AM
  OFFICE MEMO         RE RE Aftertouch                      Date:  9/6/95

----------------Original Post------------------

Ken Sloan wrote an excellent clarification regarding the consequences of
higher leverage shanks.  Ken, you located my confusion exactly:  efficiency
of leverage means less effort but the distance travelled in key dip is longer
(the arc travelled further from the fulcrum is longer).

Isn't it also true then that the speed of travel must be greater as you move
further from the fulcrum to result in the same speed of travel of the hammer?

To move the key (from top to bottom of travel) a greater distance in the same
time span the finger must move faster?  But if it takes less effort you don't
feel the additional speed?

Audrey Karabinus,   Seattle

------------------MY REPLY---------------------

Very interesting questions, indeed. Certainly from a theoretical viewpoint, a
high leverage action needs a quicker key stroke than a low leverage action to
move a hammer at a designated speed. However, most pianists I have worked with
seem to find the high leverage actions easier to accelerate, especially when
playing loud and fast, which seems to support your rhetorical question, "But
if it takes less effort you don't
feel the additional speed?" As with the crowbar, when you slide your hand back
on the handle, it takes more motion of the lever to get the object you are
prying moving, but certainly less effort.

Ken Sloane, Oberlin Conservatory