I have an older stencil upright player, gutted, a sort of Arts and
Crafts case, so may be from around that period.  Anyway, the action
is loose as a goose -- you only have to breathe on the keys to play
softly.  I find it extremely easy play a large range of 'soft' on this
piano.  It seems to allow for a fairly wide range of pressure upon the
key in the soft range, which makes it very easy to realize good
expression in the music.

After learning on this piano, I remember being driven to distraction by
a piano teacher I had in college.  When I attempted to play his grand,
all I ever heard was, "Play softer."  I would have been glad to have
accommodated him, except that it was nigh impossible for me get anything
soft out of that piano, much less any range of soft expression.

I don't know if this is a "problem" with all grands, because of the
design of the action?  Whereas I seem to have a large range of pressure
available on my own piano to effect soft expression, on that particular
grand, it seems the range of pressure was drastically compressed so
that trying to play soft, resulted in no sound, the increase in finger
pressure necessary to finally get any response would result in about a
mid-range volume.  Soft was all but impossible to effect.

I suppose with much practice upon an instrument of this limited
expression, one could train their muscles to manage this extremely
limited range of touch and actually figure out how to play softly.
Whether much of a soft range could be effected seems unlikely.

I have noticed this "stiffness" in other grands too, though not as
pronounced.  I was wondering if others with more experience have
noticed that this is endemic to the touch of grand pianos, or was it
more likely a problem with the regulation or design of that particular
piano?

Tom Lear
San Francisco, CA

 [ Any decent piano can be rebuilt and adjusted by a skilled piano tech
 [ to a wide range of "responsiveness".  I enjoy a massive feel, but
 [ many pianists prefer a light touch.  Excessive friction at the key, or
 [ the jack, is undesirable; it sounds like your piano teacher enjoyed
 [ tormenting the students!  Read about the remarkable piano action
 [ discussed at http://mmd.foxtail.com/Tech/HickmanAction/  The prime
 [ goal of the inventor, Dr. Clarence Hickman, was to reduce friction
 [ and humidity susceptibility, and he succeeded.  -- Robbie