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Book Review Feedback

  • 1.  Book Review Feedback

    Posted 11-11-2019 23:33
    I'm currently working on a book review. I wish to keep the title and author secret for now. It is a book on the application of acoustics in making musical instruments.  The reason I'm asking for feedback is because as I keep reading, well, I keep sensing a weird type of style in the writing, and I can't quite put my finger on it yet.

    Here's an example:
       ............"The foremost piano maker in America in the mid-19th Century, Steinway supposedly invented the Diaphragmatic soundboard. I say supposedly because all they did was imitate the thickness of plate -tuned violins(thick in the center and thin at the edges). Predictably, it made the sound volume more flexible and the overall resonance superior, so it was deemed to be better. The problem with this manner of mechanical management of the soundboard is that nothing is in tune and everything sounds colorless, hence boring. Added to this, the habit of diagonally running the grain of the soundboard wood from the treble to the bass also caused the effect of colorlessness. 
    Considering that nothing on their soundboards was tuned, it's no wonder that the modern piano has "inspired" over the last 150 years a largely unmusical manner of playing."

    Thoughts?
    -chris

    ------------------------------
    Troubles are Bubbles, and they just float away.
    chernobieffpiano.com
    grandpianoman@protonmail.com
    Knoxville, TN
    865-986-7720
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Posted 11-12-2019 00:22
    Ok, here is another example. This is called "Techniques for maintaining composure while tuning"

    "When you tune wood, you are faced with a material the pitch of which is not easy to hear, let alone define. For this reason, it is imperative to hold your mind in a frame of mind that is flexible,alert,interested,focused,but also somewhat indifferent to the outcome.It is also helpful to keep your sense of humor,keep your standards high, and try to listen as if you were a child.
    Tuning is like worship, it requires the faith in principles. If you do not love what you are doing , the power of fear will paralyze you. Finally, if you don't assume the attitude of allowing the materials to speak to you, you will not be able to develop competency in tuning".

    So there is the second example. I shared this example because I never heard anyone describe tuning to be like worship before.
    -chris

    ------------------------------
    Troubles are Bubbles, and they just float away.
    chernobieffpiano.com
    grandpianoman@protonmail.com
    Knoxville, TN
    865-986-7720
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-12-2019 08:40
    The word "pompous" comes to mind for some reason.
    Gary Bruce


    CLICK HERE to schedule your next piano tuning.

    405-413-8863 (cell)







  • 4.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-12-2019 01:07
    I wasn't aware that the last 150 years of piano playing could be characterized as largely unmusical.

    ------------------------------
    David Love RPT
    www.davidlovepianos.com
    davidlovepianos@comcast.net
    415 407 8320
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Posted 11-12-2019 09:16
    It was said that, and maybe this guy missed the announcement, but "...the brown acid that is circulating around us is not specifically too good.  Uh, it's suggested that you do stay away from that, course it's your own trip, so be my guest, but, uh, please be advised that there is a warning on that one ok?"

    ------------------------------
    Terry Farrell
    Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
    Brandon, Florida
    terry@farrellpiano.com
    813-684-3505
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-12-2019 10:53
    Well, dittos to the earlier comments. Bad writing and thought process.

    ------------------------------
    Patrick Draine
    Billerica MA
    978-663-9690
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-12-2019 11:04
    It kind of reminds me of the tone of an essential oils salesperson. (Example: "Big Pharma has caused all the problems that the world is facing, and THIS is The Solution") (No offense intended to anybody who uses essential oils...my mom does.) The quotes have an air of absolute certainty that the author is right and that conventional wisdom is wrong. And they may be right about some stuff..the comparison to violins soundboards was interesting, and the advice to keep your mind in an alert and open state while "tuning" makes a kind of sense. But the opinionated statements, like that having a soundboard that is not tuned to specific frequencies makes everything "colorless" and "boring", and that "if you do not love...the power of fear will paralyze you", is kind of a turn off.

    ------------------------------
    Anthony Willey, RPT
    http://willeypianotuning.com
    http://pianometer.com
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Posted 11-12-2019 11:04

    In the first example there is a lot of what my grad school instructors called "fluff"--words that have no benefit to the document other than to increase the word count and obfuscate your main point. Also, the author has the curious habit of delaying the subject of the sentence til the middle of the sentence, or making the subject of the sentence "their" with no clear indication of which of the previous subjects he/she is referring to, making reading and determining what he/she is talking about difficult. The author also makes a lot of claims that are merely personal opinion, but that's allowed in private writing (it is faux pas number one in academic writing).

    If I had written that paragraph, here's how my supervisor would have returned it to me, along with a failing grade:

    The foremost piano maker in America in the mid-19th Century (fluff, unsubstantiated claim:  who says they were?), Steinway supposedly (didn't they get the patent? if they got the patent, they get credit for the invention) invented the Diaphragmatic soundboard. I say supposedly because (PERSONAL OPINION) all they did was ("Their inspiration in so doing was") imitate the thickness of plate -tuned violin: (add colon) (thick in the center and thin at the edges). (Never use parentheses in serious writing. There is always an alternate punctuation that is better) Predictably (fluff), it  (unclear what 'it' refers to. Steinway? The soundboard? The violin?-a predicate noun can't be the subject of a sentence) made the sound volume more flexible and the overall resonance superior, so it (again, unclear what 'it' refers back to- Steinway? The soundboard? The tone?) was deemed  (by whom?)to be better (than what? You can't have a comparative without something to compare). The problem with this manner of mechanical management of the soundboard is that nothing (nothing? You can't tune the piano? This needs more specificity) is in tune and everything (again, throwing out generic unclarified blanket statements) sounds colorless, hence boring (awkward construction, fluff).  Added to this, (Awkward sounding. Try "Additionaly" or "Compounding the problem") the habit ("practice" would be a better word choice--a 'habit' is a certain behavior of an individual person) of diagonally (MISPLACED MODIFIER-a modifier always comes directly after the word it is modifying-in this case, "wood") running the grain of the soundboard wood from the treble to the bass also caused the effect of (awkward construction. Try "increased") colorlessness. Considering that nothing on their (who is 'they?" the modern piano? The pianists? The Soundboards? I assume he's referring to Steinway, but Steinway hasn't been mentioned since the beginning of the paragraph-WAAAY too far back to be able to refer to them with just a predicate noun) soundboards was  tuned, it's no wonder that the modern piano has "inspired" over the last 150 years a largely unmusical manner of playing (says who?)


    One of the other forum posters used the word "pompous" to describe the writing style. I concur. It just comes across as somewhat know-it-all and full of personal opinion that Steinway is a charlatan (which may  be the case, but that's not the point of this discussion, haha).  If I were to give the author some advice, I would say:

    1. Give me evidence that these soundboards are bad, not just personal opinion. Your personal opinion, when set against 150 years of musicians who have generally admitted Steinways to be some of the best pianos available , isn't worth very much. Prove to me that they are bad soundboards.
    2. Quite using predicatve nominitaves. 'Their', 'they', 'its' and other similar words should only be used when the subject to which they are referring is absolutely unmistakable--the subject of the same sentence, ideally.
    3. Stop using fluff and leading words. "Supposedly", "Predictably", "Considering", "it's no wonder" provide no positive input to the document and merely serve to give the reader the sense that the writer has an unjustified axe to grind with Steinway. If you want to use snarky words like these, you first have to prove that the manufacturer was delinquent in using this soundboard design and demonstrate WHY it's a bad design. Otherwise, the author is just signalling us that he/she knows more than the last 150 years of musicians, which at least puts me off.
    4. Watch your word order and syntax. Put your subject at the beginning of the sentence, not in the middle. As a general rule, put adjectives and adverbs AFTER they word they modify.

    Having said all that, the second paragraph you shared is much better. It is certainly an interesting analogy to speak of tuning (whether pianos or soundboards, I can't tell which he's talking about) as a religion, but I can see where he's going with it and it makes sense to me.



    ------------------------------
    Jonathan Cleghorn
    MME
    Cotton MN
    509-690-8475
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Member
    Posted 11-12-2019 11:33
    "Predictably, it made the sound volume more flexible and the overall resonance superior, so it was deemed to be better. The problem with this manner of mechanical management of the soundboard is that nothing is in tune and everything sounds colorless, hence boring."

    The second sentence seems to contradict the first.


    ------------------------------
    Don Dalton
    Chester VT
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-12-2019 11:43
    What Don said, but I have a question: Is this writer citing historical sources for his/her information &/or are they stating things that are common knowledge in some circles?

    ------------------------------
    Maggie Jusiel
    Athens, WV
    (304)952-8615
    mags@timandmaggie.net
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-12-2019 16:15
    PS - short comment from someone else:

    Passage loaded with truncated sentences and half-finished thoughts.
    Very frenetic writing style.

    ------------------------------
    Maggie Jusiel
    Athens, WV
    (304)952-8615
    mags@timandmaggie.net
    ------------------------------



  • 12.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Member
    Posted 11-12-2019 12:12
    If Steinway has a patent on the Diaphragmatic soundboard it means it is their unique invention and had to meet various requirements to justify a patent. Acoustics are a complex subject but the wood used in soundboards must meet certain criteria such as grain, thickness, tension , finish etc. Plenty of people can comment on the role of the soundboard in tone production but I think it is often considered the soul of the piano. I am not convinced that piano soundboards in general imitated violin designs except for the Mehlin Viola-grand that
     regarding tuning wood that seems rather strange. Perhaps when the wood is selected for the soundboard tap tuning is used but I have never heard of tuning wood as part of piano tuning

    Factually Chickering & Sons was the leading/fore-most maker of pianos in America when one is talking about the 1850's. In 1853/1854 they built the largest piano factory in the world at 791 Tremont Street in Boston. Eventually Steinway & Sons edged out Chickering

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    James Kelly
    Pawleys Island SC
    843-325-4357
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  • 13.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Posted 11-12-2019 16:12
    Thank you all very very much. Extremely helpful. And an amazing analysis by Jonathan, thanks so much. I enjoyed that, just don't you dare go to my website.

    Here's another small section that stood out to me:
    " Tapping Tools and the Correct Technique of Tapping"
    "The tool you use to tap determines the pitches you hear, The heavier the object, the more surface area is activated. This, of course, is relative to the thickness,stiffness and mass of the object you are tuning. Also, the heavier the tapping tool, the longer the contact of the tool with the surface will be, and the longer the contact duration of the tool to the surface, the more damping of certain pitches will occur.
    For these reasons, you want to select a tapping tool with an ideal weight and contact surface area that minimizes the length of time and area of contact surface to be tuned. A too light tool will not be able to generate certain pitches that you need to hear. Therefore, carefully choose your tool so that it draws out the pitch you wish to hear but not be so heavy as to damp too much sound."

    .........and he goes on like this another paragraph.
    My question is- Why not just show a picture of the tapping tool? And maybe include directions/plans on how to make one?
    That seemed weird to me. My conclusion is that this book is not about helping the reader acquire new skills, but more about the author placing himself upon some sort of pedestal of greatness. What a turn off, especially since I just paid $200 for it. So I am a little disappointed.

    I was going to share with you the title and author, but due to the 100% negative comments, it doesn't seem appropriate. But, it is a publicized book, so if you want the title and author name, PM me.

    Thanks again everyone, very helpful.
    -chris




    ------------------------------
    Troubles are Bubbles, and they just float away.
    chernobieffpiano.com
    grandpianoman@protonmail.com
    Knoxville, TN
    865-986-7720
    ------------------------------



  • 14.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-12-2019 20:41

    As I, and many others, have frequently pointed out -- pianos are not violins and violins are not pianos. 

    Unless you are being highly selective in your quotes it strikes me that there is a whole lot of pseudo-scientific mysticism going on here. 

    ddf



    ------------------------------
    [Delwin D] Fandrich] [RPT]
    [Piano Design & Manufacturing Consultant]
    [Fandrich Piano Co., Inc.]
    [Olympia] [WA]
    [360-515-0119]
    ------------------------------



  • 15.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-12-2019 15:48
    Last I checked the patent for the diaphragmatic soundboard  was issued in the 20th century.

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    Karl Roeder
    Pompano Beach FL
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  • 16.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Posted 11-12-2019 16:53
    Karl,
    You are right. Hilarious!!!!

    ------------------------------
    Troubles are Bubbles, and they just float away.
    chernobieffpiano.com
    grandpianoman@protonmail.com
    Knoxville, TN
    865-986-7720
    ------------------------------



  • 17.  RE: Book Review Feedback

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-12-2019 21:34

    A good guitar is primarily an interesting sounding drum with strings added. They usually have to tap well to sound good regardless of other engineering. Pianos maybe too.