Why do we sing a Renaissance piece every year in choir? Chamber Singers "Ave Maria" by Vittoria, "Ave Verum Corpus" by Byrd, and this year "O Magnum Mysterium" by Vittoria. I think it is one of the primary period styles that develops the choir member's individual independence, individual healthy tone, ensemble balance between sections, and section timbre unification. This year at National ACDA in Dallas, there was an interest session on choral polyphony. Here is an excerpt: Performing Polyphony. Good to get validation for what you think you know is good practice.
I had a great time in Quinter working on 3 pianos that were past due for care. This Gulbransen Grand, tuned last in the late 90's, had a build up of dust on the soundboard and strings as you can see from the photo. After about an hour of cleaning, she was breathing freely again. As you might suspect, the Key bed was equally dust ridden. After removing the action de-dusting with an air compressor set to about 40lbs., she was ready to tune. Testing several pitches revealed that the instrument was considerably flat -- not a surprise. We did a pitch raise which left the pitch close to A=440. The next tuning should stabilize the pitch and with future consistent care the client should have a nice instrument for many years.
Moral of the story: Keeping the piano clean and tuned are important to the life if the instrument. |