That was terrific!

Makes me want to make a ton of money so I can own one.

BTW, the spruce used for the top of my Larrivee, LV-10 50th anniversary guitar is from the same forest.

Yes, that was nice!

I toured the Val di Fiemme forests with the owners of Ciresa, the family that makes the soundboards Fazioli uses. I also toured their small soundboard workshop close by. This was part of my research for GRAND OBSESSION. That chapter ended up not making it into the final ms, mostly because a) my piano doesn't have a Ciresa soundboard, b) Thomas Hilz at Strunz soundboards in Pocking Germany, is a much more interesting/lively character than any of the Ciresas, and I didn't need two soundboard makers in the book, c) the Austrian forests, where my piano's soundboard originated, are every bit as beautiful, ancient, and interesting, plus I got to meet the Austrian Forester, the loggers, and the log buyer, and d) possibly most of all, I am not a Fazioli fan. What is called a "clear" tone in this piece of advertising I experience as cold. But that's why they have vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

One piece of info they left out that I think is interesting is that these forests are owned by a community collective that has carefully managed them since the 1300s! The Ciresas told me that they have to be very careful when the boards are sawn from these trees as there are bullets in them from WWI! Shrapnel is a danger at the sawmill.

Nice, if uncritical piece, and the music is very beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

That was great! Really enjoyed it.

Chicago's Fazioli dealer is a few blocks from our apartment. I'm not one of his regular tuners, but have prepped a couple for Piano Technician meetings there over the years.

They seem to be a bit more stable through our wild humidity swings. I'm not a strong enough player to talk about the sound and tonal potential of Fazioli vs other brands...

Wonderful story. I really enjoyed it.

I'm glad piqué chimed in because the visit to the forest immmediately brought to mind the chapter in Grand Obsession that she mentions.

Wood in all its varieties is a fascinating topic in itself.

Big Al

What a great feature! I really enjoyed it.

One thing I find interesting is the gradient of sound discrimination that musicians have... I can't think of a better way to put it. On the one hand, you have people who simply hear pitch (if that) and rhythm. On the other side of the spectrum, you have people who hear very rich levels of sound: the pitch, the overtones, the "expressions", etc. We've debated at length whether things like this can be taught, and it's a bit of a chicken v egg question to me. Does a musician become that way because they inherently hear "more" than a non-musician? Or does the process of learning music create those abilities.

Then there's the whole personal preference thing. Pique, for instance, thought the Fazioli sound was cold. Others think it's rich and warm. Like she says, vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

Anyway, what a nice thing to listen to this morning. Thanks for posting!

quote:

One thing I find interesting is the gradient of sound discrimination that musicians have... I can't think of a better way to put it. On the one hand, you have people who simply hear pitch (if that) and rhythm. On the other side of the spectrum, you have people who hear very rich levels of sound: the pitch, the overtones, the "expressions", etc. We've debated at length whether things like this can be taught, and it's a bit of a chicken v egg question to me. Does a musician become that way because they inherently hear "more" than a non-musician? Or does the process of learning music create those abilities.

i'm still in love with this question. it's impossible for me to answer from personal experience because i grew up in a very musical household and my ear was carefully trained from practically infancy.

however, i am married to someone who was exposed to music NOT AT ALL growing up. i mean, his family did not even have a record player. AND, for all intents and purposes, he is deaf, and has been since childhood.

and yet he is moved to tears by certain music and certainly can hear the vibrational coherence in my own piano after a good tuning.

he doesn't know what it is he is hearing, but it's as if his cells respond to it. vibration, after all, affects the whole body, not just the inner ear or the auditory nerve.

and congruent vibrations do affect us differently that dissonant or disorganized vibrations.

and each of us has our own fundamental frequency that will vibrate--or not--with the inherent tonal qualities of certain instruments.

the wood that is used to piece together those soundboards are chosen not just for their uniformity and tightness of annular rings, but each piece has certain tonal qualities, and the soundboard makers select the pieces to harmonize with each other.

this is a trade secret used by the soundboard makers that i could NOT get them to elaborate on.

in my experience, the pianos that are made with this level of care have a quality about their tone that anyone can experience if it happens to resonate with their own vibrational energy.

what is even more interesting to me--and i agree with al, that everything about wood is fascinating--is that you find so many parallels to this discussion in horsemanship. and there is so much about playing the piano and listening to music that is practically identical to the skilled riding of a horse. my riding instructor not only uses musical metaphors all the time, but talks about vibrational energy in the same way, and even assigns me music to use to assist me in riding better.

Have you watched "Jimmy Carter, the Rock and Roll President"? I'd recommend it. It ranges pretty far from the question of his friendship with a lot of musicians, but one of the threads that runs through it is his love of music in general, and the universality of music as human expression.

For me, it also reinforced the distance we've come since 1981 (Reagan's first term). But oddly enough, it did leave me feeling quite hopeful. The pendulum does swing, it always does. Perhaps we're at one of those inflection points?

quote:

Originally posted by Nina:
Have you watched "Jimmy Carter, the Rock and Roll President"? I'd recommend it.

no i have not! where would i find it?

that was great, mark! wild-caught wood!

i wanted to see how they were going to get that tree out of there, though.

I really enjoyed the CBA segment, and reading all of pique's comments adds a lot to that!

The question of musician's hearing and whether it's learned or not is fascinating isn't it!

I do think the way that I *listen* to a piano in person has really changed over the years, and I am certain that I hear more things, and hear them differently, than I used to....