The Ultimate Piano (™)

[Arjuna]

And don't get me started about the pianos at the Sydney Conservatorium.

You mean the ones with broken strings, missing hammers, pedals that don't work and chip wrappers inside?

[rob]

And don't get me started about the pianos at the Sydney Conservatorium.

You mean the ones with broken strings, missing hammers, pedals that don't work and chip wrappers inside?

PERFECT for John Cage, surely?

[juno_nb]

Hi Ian,
the Stuart is doing very well, its being looked after nicely and treated properly perhaps for the first time. As you are no doubt aware, there are still people here who do not like the piano however they are no longer in a position to make decisions regarding the instrument. The C7's we have here are beginning to age despite careful care from yamaha factory tech's, they just don't quite cut it against the Stuart. A new building is in the pipeline before there will be any serious thought about getting a second concert standard piano here.
I have put some recordings on youtube as the Stuart sounds now -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khX3uzSXPz4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbmjE7lc3Z0

you should contact Shan and convince her to invite you to come and give us a master class - if your feeling exceedingly generous!

cheers,
Nick

[fredbucket]

You mean the ones with broken strings, missing hammers, pedals that don't work and chip wrappers inside?

I didn't see the chip wrappers...

Seriously though, I hope you're exaggerating. For any pianist, whether student or not, playing a piano that has not been well looked after is soul destroying.

Regards
Fred

[fredbucket]

PERFECT for John Cage, surely?

...and for Beethoven, no?

Regards
Fred

[Timtin]

The ultimate piano is one where the width of the keyboard (and therefore every key)
can be extended or reduced to suit the stretch of the hands of the pianist and the
chubbiness or otherwise of their fingers and thumbs. The one-size fits all piano
keyboard is so last century.
On a different tack, maybe John Cage's 4'33" shouldn't get any publicity, being
a nothing work. Lasting a tedious 273 seconds, it is perhaps significant that the
negative of this number represents absolute zero on the Kelvin temperature scale,
which is probably how numb with cold his audience feels when they realise that
they've actually paid to 'hear' this nonsense.

[rob]

The ultimate piano is one where the width of the keyboard (and therefore every key)
can be extended or reduced to suit the stretch of the hands of the pianist and the
chubbiness or otherwise of their fingers and thumbs. The one-size fits all piano
keyboard is so last century.
On a different tack, maybe John Cage's 4'33" shouldn't get any publicity, being
a nothing work. Lasting a tedious 273 seconds, it is perhaps significant that the
negative of this number represents absolute zero on the Kelvin temperature scale,
which is probably how numb with cold his audience feels when they realise that
they've actually paid to 'hear' this nonsense.

Oh it's not nonsense, but like most 'conceptual art' it should stay conceptual and be pondered rather than 'performed'!

You mention 'chubbiness' - I saw in my mind's eye Alexander Toradze, a veritable wrestler-thug of the piano world (whose Prokofiev Concerti with Gergiev are unsurpassed to my ears). Might a curved keyboard be more efficient for those pianists less lithe and agile? One could imagine a keyboard in a complete circle. And that triggers a Hoffnungesque vision of a crane hoisting said chubby pianist into position at the centre of this circular keyboard. Now there's a challenge for Wayne Stuart! Could some gifted cartoonist member kindly sketch this vision for us?

[fredbucket]

Might a curved keyboard be more efficient for those pianists less lithe and agile? One could imagine a keyboard in a complete circle. And that triggers a Hoffnungesque vision of a crane hoisting said chubby pianist into position at the centre of this circular keyboard. Now there's a challenge for Wayne Stuart!

I am not that chubby, but I have no problems with the extended 102 note keyboard on the Stuart piano. Curved keyboards have been tried I believe, but have met little or no success both from a technical and performance standpoint.

Regards
Fred

[Timtin]

Oh it's not nonsense, but like most 'conceptual art' it should stay conceptual and be pondered rather than 'performed'!

You mention 'chubbiness' - I saw in my mind's eye Alexander Toradze, a veritable wrestler-thug of the piano world (whose Prokofiev Concerti with Gergiev are unsurpassed to my ears). Might a curved keyboard be more efficient for those pianists less lithe and agile? One could imagine a keyboard in a complete circle. And that triggers a Hoffnungesque vision of a crane hoisting said chubby pianist into position at the centre of this circular keyboard. Now there's a challenge for Wayne Stuart! Could some gifted cartoonist member kindly sketch this vision for us?

As regards conceptual art, I'm now presented with a dilemma - should my unmade bed be made,
or would that constitute an act of destruction of a piece of conceptual art, and if so, would the
very act of that destruction itself be considered conceptual art?

As regards pianists' fingers, I notice that Alfred Brendel, who btw seldom gets mentioned on PP,
is in the habit of bandaging the tips of his fingers before performing. What's that all about?

[rob]

As regards conceptual art, I'm now presented with a dilemma - should my unmade bed be made,
or would that constitute an act of destruction of a piece of conceptual art, and if so, would the
very act of that destruction itself be considered conceptual art?
...

But Tim, you are an artist, so therefore everything you do is art!!!