This isn’t exactly a piano related blog, but I’m going to be self-indulgent just this once. I will be tuning the Kawai upright piano for the reading so it is distantly connected to pianos. I will be hiring myself as the the piano tuner, I believe…keep costs down.
“Send P&J to New York reading ” Written by Joshua Richardson with Karen Coughlin, Amber Cunningham, Jim Doucette and Rick Kish. Directed by Marcia Tratt with musical direction by Andrew Petrasunias.
Monday Dec.17th @ 8pm in the Mcmanus Theatre 471 Richmond St. London, Ontario
For more info visit www.pretentioustheatre.com
Glenn Gould, arguably the best pianist ever, has had a recent resurgence of popularity with some very notable achievements being attached to his name. I was recently in Ottawa and was able to take in his exhibit at the Museum of civilization. It truly is a remarkable exhibit with many insightful audio and video recordings. His main stay Chickering Grand piano as well as his Steinway were among some of the articles. For further information on the exhibit go to the official Museum of civilization website. The exhibit runs till August 10, 2008.
Yamaha also has a interesting offering in it’s reproduction of the Glenn Goulds’ Goldberg Variations played on a Yamaha Disklavier. These reproductions come in co-operation with Zenph studios. I have yet to hear the reproductions, (the Yamaha rep keeps promising they will arrive) but am very keen on enjoying them when they do arrive. For the full story visit the official Yamaha website.
Yamaha musical instruments is currently giving out direct to consumer rebates to customers in Canada due to the high Canadian dollar. On piano’s, rebates start at $100 and go up to $1200 on some of the top of the line models. If you are in the market to buy a piano, now is a good time. In fact this Weekend of Nov. 16 to 18 there is a large sale going on at D&S pianos London, Ontario. Not only will you receive savings from the dealer but you will also receive the Yamaha rebate on your piano.
To see the full line of Yamaha rebates go to http://www.yamahapromos.ca/stepup/list.html
The modern western method of tuning is called equal temperament. This method of tuning didn’t come into practice until the early 20th century. Bach’s well tempered clavier was written for the tuning of the time which was a mean tone temperament. Each piece explores different colours and flavours each key represents. Mean tone temperament was an approximation of our modern equal temperament but provided far more variation in keys. Some keys like B and Ab sounded charged and disagreeable, while others keys such as C and G were purer and more congenial. Some well tempered or mean tone temperaments can be asked for of a tuner if desired to create a more authentic playing experience, though most modern pianos are designed to be tuned in equal temperament. The reason equal temperament is so popular is that keys can be modulated without compromising intervals, modulation being a very common practice among most modern composers.
String instruments are not conformed to a set temperament and most players adjust their fingering ever so slightly depending on which key they are in. However pianos have set notes that cannot be adjusted. Therefore the fifth (or perfect fifth though not actually perfect) is flattened ever so slightly and the fourth is sharpend ever so slightly. This method divides the octave into 12 equal semi tones and provides a pure octave.
The Importance of Regular tuning
It will seem this advice coming from a piano tuner is biased and perhaps even self serving so I will attempt to describe in a simple fashion how regular tuning is in fact an important practice. Stability. Stability is the object every piano tuner strives for and is attempting to achieve in your piano. Stability of pitch so that wherever the piano tuner leaves the tuning pins and strings, they stay. The smaller the adjustment, the more stable it will be. A piano that is grossly below pitch and out of tune requires large adjustments. These large adjustments come as a shock to the piano and the piano reacts in like manner. The piano reacts to the shock of this huge pitch change by trying to stabilize itself. The change in pressure on the wood and tension on the strings eventually do stabilize themselves but not necessarily where the piano tuner intended them to be stabilized. This happens after the tuner has left and is long gone. It may take a couple days, but it does happen and the piano usually sounds better than it did, but not as good as it could.
In the instance that a piano is tuned at best 4 times a year or at least once a year, the tuner can make smaller adjustments allowing the piano little to no reaction. Thus, the pianos pitch stays where the tuner intends it to stay.
