Stage light slump

[Don]

Hi Tom et al,

I am having great success by having the stage crew give me a single plug in
lamp (500 watt). I place it so it shines on the piano from end of rehearsal
Saturday morning until just before the concert. I tune the piano at about
5:30 p.m. to allow for any last minute contingencies. This allows the
artist time to practice if he wishes.

It keeps the lighting man much happier as his bulbs don't burn out. It
warms the piano very thoroughly. The tunings are more stable.

At 11:16 PM 4/6/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Dear List,
>
>Reading some posts regarding pitch-guessing or "overshoot" when
>pitch-raising reminds me of a related consideration alluded to in a
>recent post. The concert instrument you carefully tuned to A440 during
>the cool, damp morning by evening has fallen a hertz or two at A4, the
>tenor even more and the octaves across the break are beating noticeably.
>The soundboard has apparently been parched by the heat of the stage
>lights causing the uneven out-of-tuneness.
>
>Question: do any of you anticipate "stage light slump" by putting a
>tolerable "hump" in the middle of the tuning?
>
>You may accuse me of being way too fussy - the two words "solid unisons"
>come immediately to your lips. But I do aspire to the _art_ of tuning,
>even though there may not be many in the audience who are going to
>appreciate it consciously. If only for the reason of attracting the
>business of discerning musicians, I want my best efforts to be displayed
>on my concert tunings.
>
>What I try to do is to make the tuning _unnoticeable_, to paraphrase
>Horace, and so I wonder what others have done to cope with or maybe
>control temperature changes on the concert stage.
>
>Tom
>
>
>
Regards, Don