Attached is an image of the vagrant I had to overcome in order to access the piano shop at CalArts at 4 o'clock this past Sunday morning. I don't usually tune this early on any day of the week, and especially not on a Sunday. However, that evening there was a minimalist piano mega-show. It featured pieces for 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6 pianists, including a piece for three Clavinovas, and another for three toy pianos.
What with the infamous Santa Ana winds we have been experiencing in Southern California of late, responsible for fanning our many wildfires with their high speeds and single digit RH%, pianos have not been holding pitch. One piano dropped three cents in the low tenor from one day to the next!
So, the only way to hope that all six of these pianos would be even close to in tune with each other for the playing of Steve Reich's "Six Pianos" was to tune them all the day of the concert, and before rehearsals began in the early afternoon.
If you would like to experience this minimalistic tour de force, the webcast has been archived online. Go to calarts.edu, search for ROD webcast, and select "Piano Department Concert" from Sunday, December 10th, 2017.
Also attached is an image of the concert poster.
Alan
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Alan Eder, RPT
Herb Alpert School of Music
California Institute of the Arts
Valencia, CA
661.904.6483
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