Klarinet Archive - Posting 001127.txt from 2004/07

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] ClarinetFest 2004, day 4
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 15:55:18 -0400


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lelia Loban [mailto:lelialoban@-----.net]=20

> Dekelboum Hall is a "live" room,=20
> equipped with a
> 12-foot Steinway with a huge, resonant tone. It's a terrific=20
> piano and it
> makes pianists want to pound the bejeezus out of it. You can=20
> whomp it as
> hard as you like and the tone won't bottom out. Well, most=20
> of the pianists
> joyfully opened up the lid on the tall stick, and then cut loose and
> whomped, and whomped, and whomped. I would have loved to=20
> close that lid,
> sneak up behind Ms. Meyer=20
> and connect her elbows together with a belt behind her back,=20
> to limit her
> leverage!

Lelia-=20

Thanks for all of your great writeups re: the clarinetfest... Makes me =
wish
I didn't have to work out here in LA and could go to it. The only one =
I've
gone to was the one in Tempe and I had a grand time. Oh well, perhaps
someday I'll be able to turn work away to go.

I must make a brief comment about something that you wrote, though. =
Closing
a lid on a piano will not make it softer. It *will* muffle the sound =
and
the lack of clarity helps keep it from projecting sometimes (thus =
helping
balance). The issue of volume for a piano falls squarely on the pianist =
to
play quietly enough for a given instrument and/or room. This is a =
common
misconception (and I see it all the time in performances that I record) =
but
a misconception that should be brought to light. A piano will sound a =
lot
better on full stick, but you need a pianist that is aware of the issues
surrounding that kind of playing.
=20
--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Freelance Clarinetist and Recording Engineer
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.fifthcircle.com

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