Bone keytops

[S. Brady]

On Mon, 19 Feb 1996 EugeniaCar@aol.com wrote:

> Paul,
> The only experience I've had was with Bella Davidovich (sp?) several years
> ago. She insisted on rubbing the ivories with a candle. Since I had never
> encountered this, I was a bit uneasy letting her do it; but she told me (in
> her halting English) that this was the only was she could play. Her manager
> told me that she felt it gave her a better grasp and that she did it on every
> piano she played. Tho it took me a little elbow grease to clean them off
> afterwards, the ivories have shown no after effects.
> Gina Carter

      It's true; Bella D. always travels with a candle in her purse,
and always rubs it over the keytops, whether ivory or plastic. In
general, concert pianists prefer that you *don't* wash or clean the keys
before they play. It seems that the slurry of perspiration and dirt which
builds on the surface of the keys helps with traction.
      Emanuel Ax, with whom I've had a long and pleasant association,
brought this sharply to my attention a year or two ago. On the morning of
his recital, I came in and tuned the piano, noticing that the (ivory) keys
were *filthy*, looking almost like someone had played with chocolate on their
hands. I knew already that you don't want to wash the keys right before a
concert, but I figured Manny would be practicing for at least a couple of
hours in the morning or afternoon, which would leave the keys just about
right. Wrong! His flight was delayed and he didn't make it to the hall
until after 6:00 pm, and he was furious with the clean keys. I tried to
explain, but it didn't help. I finally took some sandpaper (about 220 or
320, I think) and lightly sanded the keytops. Big improvement; he was
happy and apologized for being upset. But lesson learned. He said,
"lately it seems like there's been an epidemic of key washing in the
concert halls where I've played. Please tell your colleagues, if you get
a chance, to refrain from washing the keys unless the pianist *asks* you to."


Steve Brady, RPT        "Chaos is the law of nature; order is the
University of Washington      dream of man."    --Henry Adams
sbrady@u.washington.edu