Robbie remarked in 020721 MMDigest, "Adding Foot Pedal Exhausters
to Duo-Art Grand":

>[ Many times I became disgusted with the performance of a Duo-Art
>[ piano (admittedly in "average" condition) and so I played the same
>[ roll at my venerable Aeolian Themodist vertical piano, incorporating
>[ _my_ expression ideas.  Yes, it was hard work play loudly; the
>[ Magnehelic gage reading stack suction sometimes averaged 25 inches WC
>[ for a few seconds.  (The pedal exhausters on my Themodist are fairly
>[ small, so they don't deliver much flow, but they can produce relatively
>[ high suction.)  It was very satisfying musically (loud, too!) and
>[ good physical exercise!  ;-)

I've been involved in a number of Duo-Art plus Pianola recitals here in
the UK.  Usually two pushups are used on the hall's resident Steinway
grand, one of each type.

In a large hall, to get a convincing and properly projected tone, the
Duo-Art usually has to be driven near the top of its power range, this
being arranged by increasing the pump power and making suitable
adjustments to the accompaniment and theme zeros (not so important if
the Duo-Art piece is a piano concerto with orchestra).

The two experts on doing this, Peter Davis and Denis Hall, starkly
disagree on the proper strategy and the opportunity has never arisen to
be able to audition their two (or more) methods on the same occasion,
since concerts are always tense and hasty affairs anyway with barely
enough time to get any adjustments done.  The zero intensity levels are
auditioned using any Debussy pieces due to be played or, failing any,
the four-hand roll of "The Carioca" !

However, when it comes to the Pianola, the major, major problem is
getting the performer to project the piece anywhere near as much as a
pianist would (I am talking large halls here still).  I've never heard
one of our regular public performers, Michael Broadway, play in a large
hall, but the best-known, Rex Lawson, always needs a pep talk from
someone at the back to remind him to play up.  Otherwise it sounds
exactly as though he's running through the piece with his mind on
something else.

This is also true of me.  If you are at the receiving end of such
advice, it's highly disconcerting, because following it feels like a
very unnatural way of using the Pianola.  You have to keep the soft
pretty soft and yet bray out the theme notes in a manner that would
immediately earn you complaints in a domestic recital.

The Pianola Institute once ran a pianola marathon on a Steinway in
the Royal Festival Hall lobby which is (or was then) a big absorbent
exhibition area and at dead of night I tried playing a Beethoven
sonata; as I recall it was the 'Les Adieux', Op 81a.  I realised that
to make it sound even remotely convincing I needed virtually to stand
on the pedals to bring the theme out.  A reproducing piano has that
power waiting there anyway.  It's very sobering.  (These remarks don't
apply to Ampico-style "easy listening" rolls where the overall dynamic
remains soft and the emphasized notes are just touched in to give the
thing plenty of snap.)

Of course the Pianola was not really meant for such heavy use and I
could write the Aeolian Company's admonition to that effect with no
difficulty.  The solution is probably, as in the Gulbransens I've seen,
to drive the roll using pump power and pedal the stack only.

Dan Wilson

 [ I recently accompanied a jazz vocalist at a recording session,
 [ playing a lovely Steinway B grand.  The engineer pleaded, "Robbie,
 [ play softer; this isn't a concert hall!"  ;-)  -- Robbie