Low Inertia

[Ed Sutton]

Jim-

The piano is the simple part of the inertial system.

The human side is far more variable. The way the performer uses the human 
system will ultimately determine what the most responsive arrangement would 
be in the piano. From the viewpoint of piano technology, this has hardly 
been explored.
Ortmann's _Physiological mechanics of Piano Playing_ and Fink's _Mastering 
Piano Technique_ come to mind. Fink has produced an excellent video 
demonstrating various ways of using the arms and hands to play the piano.
It seems to me we need to connect both sides, and that you might be someone 
who can do this.

Pianists vary in how much of the possibilities of expression they use, and 
are sensitive to, and so we get paradoxical responses to pianos, which may 
be due to irreconcilable differences in basic musical intentions. (Such as a 
desire for articulate playing vs. building big resonance sounds. There seem 
to be pianists who never play below mezzoforte, for example.)

Pianists also have very different kinds of bodies, so that in optimizing a 
piano for, say a 280 pound pianist with giant hands, we may be making it 
miserable for other pianists.

I'm also curious if you have played pianos with various 19th century 
actions, and if they may have been more expressive for you.

Ed Sutton


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <jimialeggio5 at comcast.net>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 9:50 PM
Subject: Low Inertia


> David,
>
>>... Being able to identify the
>>weight ratio of the action and picking an appropriate hammer weight
>>level or vice versa does address the dynamic playing
>>characteristics...
>>
>>Thanks again,
>>
>>David Stanwood
>
> Thanks for your response.
>
> As I mentioned, my complaint is an empirical one. I do feel that, at least 
> in my
> experience, that many action designers and pianists,  choose, as a 
> default, a
> heavier dynamic touch than I would like to see. Sometimes both the sound 
> and
> touch of these instruments seem to target only one monolithic flavor. The
> purpose of my post is to raise the possibility of other takes on the 
> issue.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Jim
>
> --
> Jim Ialeggio
> www.grandpianosolutions.com (under construction)
> Shirley, MA (978) 425-9026
>
>