artist's touch

[Nichols]

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At 02:23 PM 2/20/2003 -0800, you wrote:
>The Oregon East Symphony performed Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto this 
>past weekend with Dickran Atamian at the piano.  He was VERY unhappy with 
>the piano.
><SNIP>
>    What steps could a tech make to put more resistance in the 
> piano?  Especially between Friday night and Saturday afternoon?  Is this 
> a common complaint with artists?

Ed,
    I've encountered many artists that just blow me away with their ability 
to adapt to a particular piano, but not too many that could handle an 
"out-of-control" light action.
    Recently had an artist of the highest caliber unhappy with a D that is 
a little light. Not too light, 52-55, but still pretty quick and touchy for 
a D. He (the artist) has played thousands of Ds, and really knows his 
stuff. In one day of two and a half rehearsals, we changed the touch twice. 
He had an injured hand, and was being very stoic about the whole thing. 
So... to give him a more controllable treble, and a bit more tone at the 
top end, I added mini paper binders to the shanks.
15 minutes, while he and the other musicians chatted about other gigs. 
(this guy has been performing for over 50 years) Just about a gram each, 
they raise the downweight and make the hammer bounce off the wire a bit 
more robustly. He loved it, the slight voicing to knock off the extra 
percussiveness made the tone more controllable, and we all thought he'd be 
happy. Well... after an hour of practice, his swollen and injured hand was 
bugging him a bunch, and he asked if I could return to the lighter touch. 
No problem. Twenty minutes later he had played it again, and instantly 
adapted to what he had started with. Love them paper clips! This particular 
D is in a hall where the #1 dressing room has a 1098. So... the artist(s) 
come out of the dressing room after having pounded on THAT.... uh.... urban 
assault vehicle for a while.... and then play on this high-end race car... 
takes a few minutes for the best of 'em to get aquainted.

     So... yes, there is a way to at least give the artist an option, in a 
very short span of time. Thank Bob Marinelli at Pianotek and David Stanwood 
for the clip idea.

>  How about the business with the keys being dry.  I thought that artists 
> wished the keys to be clean and dry so their fingers didn't slide.  That 
> is the opposite of what he wanted.

As Del says, hairspray. There is also a product called, believe it or not, 
Gorilla Snot, for guitar players. Available at guitar shops. Works fine, 
and leaves very little noticeable residue.

>
>
>Ed Carwithen
>John Day, OR

It's all about "control", Ed, and not always just on the piano.

Guy Nichols, RPT
Ft. Stinkin' Desert, NM

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not
only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American public." - Teddy Roosevelt
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