ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER
April Meeting: (4th Monday)
Date: Monday, April 25, 2022
Time: 7:00 pm
Our thanks to our own chapter vice president, Jason Fronk, for his technical
presentation at the March meeting on cabinet touch-up techniques for field
technicians. Jason shared with us a variety of abrasives and techniques that we
can easily use in the field to add value to an appointment when major work from
a furniture tech or refinisher isn't necessary.
Our next meeting will
again be on Zoom, login details below. April's technical presenter will be Fred
Sturm who will give a talk on Erard - looking at him as an inventor, and
focusing mostly on his piano actions that led to the double escapement action of
1824.
Sebastien Erard was an iconic figure in the history of the piano.
His most important legacy is the grand action we use today or, more
specifically, the repetition lever. This class will trace the 45 years of
exploration and design that led to this final product. What was he looking for?
Why? We'll look at various steps along the way:
o Erard's
approach to the square piano, rejecting escapement in favor of higher action
ratio and longer blow distance
o His earliest adaptation
of the English grand action, including a true una corda and various unique
features (he sent examples of his early grands to both Haydn and Beethoven)
o The Étrier (stirrup) action, with its blow distance of 70 - 80 mm and no check
o A digression into the world of the concert harp, where he played an even more
prominent role
o And, finally, the piano action made
famous by Liszt and parts of which were eventually adapted and made universal
throughout the world
We'll also look at the "strange" features of his final action design,
including under dampers and a check that works from the front rather than the
back. Why? There are some very good reasons for all those details, and we'll
find that Herz's adaptation was more of a simplification than an improvement.
This is also an important business meeting for all members, as we will
be nominating chapter officers for next year and discussing logistic details for
the upcoming convention in Anaheim.
For a link to the ZOOM meeting, please email
Don
Mannino