Eliyahu Shahar says in the MMD of 3/15/02, "The real problem here is
that additional six inches is also reflected in the length of the piano
keys and it also has an effect on manual playing the piano."

Mr. Shahar should say that the key length has an effect on the mental
playing of the piano, since this "effect" is totally in his own mind.
If anybody can show why the length of a key affects the playing of a
piano, I will be the first to apologize.  I wrote about this subject in
MMD a while back, and I think it is time for this old wives tale to be
retired.

Randolph Herr

 [ Well, you should see the Duo-Art grand I once had.  After I played
 [ it by hand for a year the key cover was littered with nicks from my
 [ long fingers.  I have no such problem with most other big pianos.
 [
 [ Okay, so it's my mental hang-up; I admit that a shorter-than-normal
 [ keytop affects my piano playing because I don't want to damage the
 [ key cover or injure my fingers when the cover slams down.
 [
 [ I don't like playing a Duo-Art grand piano by hand.  :-<  -- Robbie