UC position (was Re: hammer voicing)

Avery Todd ATodd@UH.EDU
Wed, 03 Jul 1996 09:54:32 -0500


Charles,
   You wrote:

>1.  Sometimes it is necessary to reduce the action travel in order to
>produce an acceptable UC sound.  Last summer, when Steinway chief technician
>Ron Conors spoke at the national seminar, he pointed out that in the
>Steinway basement they do not attempt to make the hammer shift so far that
>it completely misses the left string--this can produce the kind of sound you
>describe.  Just a slight shift is usually all that is necessary to provide a
>contrast in tone color.
>
>Charles Ball
>School of Music
>University of Texas at Austin

   This brings up something that someone on the piano list (I believe it
was) pointed out to me recently. Since pianists regularly use varying
positions of the sustain pedal for various effects, why should the una
corda pedal not be regulated so they can do the same thing? A slight shift,
as you mention, for a color change, and a little more shift (to miss the
left string) for a different type of sound.
   Does this make sense to you?

_____________________________________
Avery Todd, RPT
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-4893
713-743-3226
atodd@uh.edu
_____________________________________






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