Professional French Horn

A symphony of support is being aimed at Japan

Symphonic support

What: Japanese Earthquake Tsunami Benefit Concert

When: Saturday, 6 p.m.

Where: Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church, 943 Palmer Ave,, Schenectady, NY, 12309

Cost: Suggested donation $10 for adults, $5 for children

Contact: 374-4306

If you are unable to attend but would still like to contribute, donations may be sent to the Japanese Cultural Association of the Capital District, Attention Benefit Recital, P.O. Box 422, East Greenbush, NY 12061.

french horn | Holton H279 Farkas Professional French Horn

Posted: Aug 20, 2010

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Background information

The prepared piano is often regarded[weasel words] a kind of random technique, mainly popularised by John Cage. However this is a widespread[citation needed] misunderstanding of the technique. Richard Bunger wrote a book The Well Prepared Piano in which he explains how Cage prepared his pianos and even which pianos are suitable, because of the deviation of string lengths within different types of brands. Bunger also clarifies why the preparations were done in such ways, in other words, what sound it causes per adaption. The timbre of the instrument changes heavily when you prepare, but also how you prepare. Much of the technique is related to the harmonic positions of the strings. For instance a preparation on 1/2 of the string length causes a different sound than on 1/3. Cage was aware of this and made use of this knowledge. In other words, the preparations don’t cause a random sound as often assumed.

History

John Cage coined the term prepared piano and was undoubtedly the composer who made the technique famous. He credited Henry Cowell and, to a lesser extent, Erik Satie, for contributing to the idea, but it is unclear if Cage was aware of many other precedents described below.

Since the later days of the harpsichord (17th18th century), stringed keyboard instruments could have registers, for instance giving a drier or more ample sound when the instrument’s stop was pulled (a stop in the meaning of a similar disposition for organs, known as organ stops).

Fortepiano

Main article: Fortepiano

When the first pianos were invented around the beginning of the 18th century, the only “coloring” of the sounds produced by the instrument resulted from how the individual keys were pressed (loud = forte, or softly = piano, giving the name to the instrument: fortepiano). A type of register, first implemented with a stop above the keyboard, which became a standard device for pianos in the second half of the 18th century, was engaging or disengaging the muting of the strings after the release of a key. Only by the end of the 18th century, the muting mechanism was triggered with a pedal, after an intermediate period when this register was operated by the pianist’s knees.

Reed stop

But the idea of harpsichord-like registers lived on: in the early 19th century some pianos were provided with a reed stop, which lowered a strip of paper onto the strings. This led musicologists such as Tom Beghin to believe that the technique of placing a strip of paper on piano strings would probably have originated before it was standardised as a register operated with stops, and that, for instance, Mozart’s Alla Turca can safely be played with a piece of paper on some of the strings as a historical interpretation (see http://www.klara.be/html/klara_cds.html or http://streampower.belgacom.be/vrt/klara/beghin_mozart.mp3 for an audio example of this Alla Turca played on a prepared rebuilt authentic Mozart piano, in Tom Beghin’s interpretation).

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