South Coast Music Society - Kawai SK-6 Concert Preparation
South Coast Music Society Concert Preparation
"Preparation for Wynona Yinuo Wang Concert"
Wynona will be playing a program of Shubert, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev on the Society’s very own Shigeru Kawai grand piano. Having an instrument of this quality means we can tempt artists of this calibre to perform for us. It also means we have to look after it. I took the opportunity to speak with Gerald Davies who has looked after the Kawai for the last five years.
Gerald has been in the piano business for 32 years, and has serviced pianos all over New South Wales, including the Wollongong Conservatorium. The story goes that he was called in from Narrabri to tune the SCMS Kawai when another tuner withdrew at short notice prior to a concert. Gerald flew his plane (yes, he’s a pilot too!) to Moruya to respond to the cry for help, and has been our tuner of choice since. He explained how he learnt his skills from ‘the best there is’, being Wayne Stuart, a piano maker now in Tumut.
Gerald described our Shigeru Kawai SK6 as ‘massive, 214 centimetres long, a seven footer’. There is a larger, louder nine foot model designed for concert halls. Our model still uses the best parts and woods that Kawai has and is perfectly matched to the scale of our venue. He considers it ‘very tonally rich... a high end piano’ and his job is to maintain that richness.
When it comes to tuning the pitch, each note on the piano has three strings that need to be reconciled so they reverberate and vibrate in the right way. Gerald can hear when there is a wobble or ‘warble’ in the vibrations.
Then there is also the ‘voicing’ to attend to. This quality of a piano derives from the state of the felt on the hammers that strike the strings. If these are too hard or grooved from use, the piano’s response is compromised. Gerald explains his job can involve ‘needling’ the felt to get some air back into the felt, then ‘chase this hardness out to enhance its sweet musical tones and get rid of the nasties’. It can also involve removing the outer hardened shell of the felt if warranted. This process lifts the volume and clarifies the tone. Our piano was carefully and thoroughly ‘voiced’ two years ago. While we might struggle to hear such differences, Gerald explains that tuners are trained to discern the smallest distortion in vibrations.
Any concert piano needs to be ‘prepared’ for a performance. We employ Gerald to check and fine tune our piano prior to any performance. The more they are used, the more wear on the hammers. Gerald explained how concert halls keep their concert pianos for performances only, and supply practice pianos out the back. He also explained that top artists, such as Wynona and other pianists we have presented, will put a piano through its paces in a recital, and it can be ‘getting out of shape by the end’. When I attended the recitals in the last Sydney International Piano Competition, I saw how a tuner would appear at every interval to adjust and tweak things.
For Gerald, dust is the enemy and strings need to be kept clean of dust, especially here on the seaboard, where the dust can absorb the salt air and corrode the strings. So his advice to all piano owners is to keep piano lids down and covered when not in use if possible. He also recommends a yearly service, or more frequently for heavy users.
So, next concert, maybe take a moment to appreciate the work that goes not just into the pianist’s playing, but also the ongoing curation of our magnificent instrument.
Author :: Cathie Doherty - SCMS President