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ARTICLE ON AMERICAN PIANO MUSEUM! SMILE!
by Dennis Schwendtner 08 Jun '03

08 Jun '03

Here is an article that you may enjoy. ----- Original Message ----- From: Museum of the American Piano Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 7:57 PM Subject: Pianomuseum in the NYTIMES The Museum made the front page of the New York Times Friday's (5/6/03) edition in the Weekend section, page E29!! Please read it and pass it along to your friends. If you would like to get a copy, please let us know. June 6, 2003 Fanfare for the Uncommon Piano By DIANE COLE Love a Piano," Irving Berlin's anthem to the keyboard, has been music to my ears ever since I began tickling the ivories at the age of 8. But New York's love affair with the keyboard has been going on a lot longer, as several museums, a landmark showroom and this country's most famous piano factory all attest. In addition, gala concerts at Carnegie Hall this weekend commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding, in New York, of Steinway & Sons. But while that venerable piano manufacturer may be the best-known symbol of the instrument in New York, there are other places connected to the piano that can delight the casual visitor and surprise even the connoisseur. The best place to begin exploring the piano's extraordinary popularity in the United States and its advent as a status symbol in this country is at the Museum of the American Piano, at 291 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. Entering this compact, basement-level institution, founded in 1984, is like walking through an auditory time machine and hearing the unusual plunk and plink of keyboards made 200 years ago. Many once-popular piano makers displayed here - Knabe, Chickering, Osborn, Geib and Nunns, Clark & Company, among others - no longer sound familiar because they have gone out of business. But more than a century ago hundreds of manufacturers proliferated across the country. Piano ownership conveyed a sense of middle-class refinement and domesticity, and such was the demand that by 1850 about 60 piano manufacturers existed in the New York area alone, making it an important local industry that provided factory work for new immigrants and created jobs for salesmen, tuners, movers and music teachers. By the end of the 19th century, about one in six New Yorkers worked in some piano-related job, says Kalman Detrich, the museum's founder and executive director. (Mr. Detrich or an associate will provide a guided tour if you call in advance.) As you walk through the two chronologically arranged galleries, don't be surprised if you find yourself rubbing your eyes as you count only 61, or in some cases 73 or 75 or 85, cream-colored keys on instruments of earlier eras, rather than the standard 88 of pianos today. One eerily glistening keyboard has keys made from mother-of-pearl. The foot pedals are not always where you expect them to be, either; on one instrument there is one each on opposite ends of the piano. In some instances, you might not even realize that the once-fashionable but now obscure-looking piece of furniture before you is a parlor piano of yore.One such oddity is the giraffe piano, essentially an upright with a grand's harp-shaped frame with strings standing atop it. These pianos became popular in the 1880's, promising to provide the resonant sound and high-classed�cor of a grand while taking up much less space. One catch: no stand for sheet music. Another 19th-century space saver is displayed: a piano whose music desk folds up and disappears, allowing the piano to masquerade as an exquisitely carved rosewood cabinet with no telltale keyboard, pedals or strings in sight. Still another obsolete style well represented here is the so- called square piano, whose actual shape more closely resembles an elongated rectangle. One intricately carved 1815 example is supported by six fluted legs. No wonder this style's massive size, compared with the more compact upright, led to the square's extinction by the end of the 19th century. A 1920's Player Piano On his tour Mr. Detrich saves the most novel item for last: a 1920's Nickelodeon Company player piano that also encases a mechanically operated tambourine, cymbal, bass drum, triangle and accordion. Although the museum also offers examples of French, German and British pianos, the emphasis on American ones highlights the fact that the piano was the first American product to supersede its European counterparts, Mr. Detrich says. The turning point, he explains, came in 1850, when the American-made Chickering piano beat out European competitors to win a gold medal in Paris. The piano industry also presaged today's trend toward globalization, Mr. Detrich said. Exotic woods like rosewood originated in South America, ivory was imported from Africa, felt for the hammers came from New Zealand and Australia, and shellac and finishing materials were made in Asia. More piano history - and additional exotic pianos - can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's musical-instruments collection, which houses the oldest piano in existence, built in 1720 by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori. In outward shape, Cristofori's unornamented, slim- cased, fragile-looking wooden instrument with yellowed keys resembles a harpsichord. But his interior music-making mechanism was revolutionary, essentially replacing the harpsichord's string-plucking quills with fast-striking hammers. The keyboard on this piano, though only four and a half octaves, could produce a wider range of sound, high and low, and could play, as suggested by the instrument's new name - the gravicembalo col piano e forte - soft and loud. By the end of the 18th century, five octaves had become standard, and pianos were so popular that wealthy music lovers were commissioning ornate, custom-made instruments. Around 1790, for example, Ferdinand Hofmann of Vienna built an elegant cherry grand, with delicately carved arcades above an ebony-and-bone keyboard, and a music rack with a tall Gothic-arch window design. Mozart, Haydn or their contemporaries might have played such an instrument. By the time Beethoven died in 1827, the octave range had grown even larger and, thanks to the use of steel to reinforce the previously all-wooden frames, pianos could withstand greater wear and tear. Such are the conclusions to be drawn from the far heftier, heavily legged Brazilian rosewood grand piano built by John Broadwood & Sons of London in 1827. The prize for showiest instrument goes to the splendiferous, honey-colored satinwood grand built in 1840 by Erard & Company. It has a Louis XV-style inlaid wooden case with elaborate gilt trim, massive sculptured legs and painted scenes of lutenists, singers, birds, lions, floral arrangements and nudes. More down-to-earth keyboards are also on view at the Metropolitan, however, and not just in the musical-instrument collection. In the painting galleries, two canvases by Renoir, for example, display upright pianos - ubiquitous in middle-class homes throughout Europe and the United States by the 1890's - surrounded by sweet-faced girls eager to show off their musical accomplishments. Temples to Music-Making While the antique, handcrafted pianos at the Museum of the American Piano and the Met may be rarities, the skills that go into piano-making have not been lost. A glimpse of this can be gleaned at Steinway & Sons, at 19th Avenue and 38th Street in Long Island City, Queens, where piano manufacturing is still a respected craft honoring the spirit of that company's founder, Heinrich E. Steinweg, who was a master cabinetmaker before he came to the United States in 1850 and Anglicized his name. New York remains the very place to learn a fine way to treat a Steinway, as Berlin wrote - especially this year, the 150th anniversary of that piano manufacturer's founding. To celebrate, Steinway & Sons is sponsoring three gala concerts at Carnegie Hall this week, the final two tonight and tomorrow, with each performance intended to highlight a different musical style. Tonight's concert is to feature the jazz pianists Herbie Hancock, Ramsey Lewis and Ahmad Jamal. Tomorrow night the spotlight is on pop, with a bill that includes K. D. Lang, Peter Nero and Roger Williams. Tickets for these events can be pricey, but the Steinway factory - in Astoria, Queens, since 1870 - offers free tours showing workers as they assemble the approximately 12,000 parts that go into a new concert grand. You can see the finished product by stepping inside Steinway's Manhattan showroom at 109 West 57th Street, a building whose 1925 Beaux-Arts exterior and ornate interior rotunda were designed by Warren & Wetmore, the same firm that gave New York its Grand Central Terminal. Grand is indeed the word for the multitiered Waterford chandelier that dangles from the domed ceiling of the main room, which is graced by tall marble columns and oversize paintings of heroic-looking composers. The two lower floors of this 16-story structure have the feel of a private mansion, but with a difference. The cathedral-like main room, where a polished black concert grand sits regally in the center, can also double as a recital room for private performances, often by piano teachers and their students, and for occasional public seminars. Only slightly less intimidating are the five salons down the hall, each filled with at least a half-dozen grand pianos in different sizes and models. You would think you are in a hall of mirrors except that each instrument differs slightly from the other, in wood type (satinwood, rosewood, dark cherry, mahogany, pear and ebony, to name a few), style (compare the elaborately decorated, stubby- legged retro Victorian model with the austere, pared-down lines of Karl Lagerfeld's design) and vintage (the oldest, from the 1890's, have 85 keys rather than today's traditional 88). Each instrument sounds different, too. You can hear this in the jazz riffs and rippling arpeggios, some passages more mellow, others brighter, that float through the building, a cacophony provided by piano shoppers happy to test the merchandise. If you put your hands to the keyboards you can feel the different resistance in each action as well. As you roam you might also see the former company president, Henry Z. Steinway, the 87-year-old great-grandson of Heinrich Steinweg, who established the firm on Hester Street, on the Lower East Side, in 1853 before moving to Astoria in the 1870's. Wearing a natty bowtie and a dark suit with Steinway's trademark lyre on a lapel pin, the white-haired Mr. Steinway reports every day to the second-floor office he calls his "very own Old Curiosity Shop." This is a conference room lined with metal file cabinets and graced with memorabilia like a framed lock of Liszt's hair; a beige doorman's hat bearing the Steinway & Sons insignia, dating from more gracious days when businesses employed doormen; and a fire helmet with the Steinway name, from the 1890's, when the Astoria factory had its own fire company. "I'm the last Steinway, a sort of icon they show off from time to time," Mr. Steinway said, introducing himself. The family no longer owns or runs the company; it was sold in 1972 and since 1995 has been part of a corporation known as Steinway Musical Instruments Inc. These days, Mr. Steinway observed, his chief duty is autographing pianos, a task he performs with the single flourish of a black-inked laundry marker. Oddly, he never learned to play the piano himself. "I had a few lessons, but they never really took," he says. The procession of distinguished musicians associated with Steinway began in 1872, when the company sponsored the first American tour of the European piano sensation Anton Rubinstein. Another 19th-century matinee-idol pianist, Ignace Paderewski, played the inaugural concert at Carnegie Hall in 1891. Since then it has been host to more than 520 additional pianists in solo performances. This is the focus of an exhibition paying tribute to those great pianists, which is on display at Carnegie Hall's Rose Museum through July 3. Concert programs, posters, autographs, photographs, sheet music, record covers and newspaper clippings document the parade of pianists who have played at Carnegie. Most notable is the continuously playing videotape of piano performances by, among others, Artur Rubinstein, Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Horowitz, Rudolf Serkin and Eubie Blake, who all knew how to get to Carnegie Hall. And even if, as hard as we practice, we can't, we can always hum along with Irving Berlin. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company _______________________________________________ pianotech list info: http://www.ptg.org/mailman/listinfo/pianotech ***** Remember, an out of tune piano makes noise, not music! ***** ***** E-MAIL: dennis(a)rain.org . ***** http://www.rain.org/~dennis *** Dennis Schwendtner *** WB6OBB ***

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New 60-meter band becomes available July 3
by Darryl A. Widman 04 Jun '03

04 Jun '03

QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 38 ARLB038

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Jerry Schmitt, KK6YY SK
by Marvin Johnston 31 May '03

31 May '03

For those of you who remember the 1997 Hamfest, Jerry was the person who gave the satellite communications demo in the Elks parking lot, and made a contact with Alaska on a handheld antenna. * Gerald G. Schmitt, KK5YY, SK: Jerry Schmitt, KK5YY (ex-KC5EGG), of Los Alamos, New Mexico, died unexpectedly May 23 after an apparent heart attack. He was 60. Schmitt was especially well-known within the AMSAT and APRS communities and was the designer and primary promoter of the portable Arrow antenna used for satellite work; he also had a hand in developing antennas for AO-40. "Jerry was a very good friend of AMSAT's," said AMSAT President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH. At Hamvention 2003 Schmitt assisted at the AMSAT booth and did a live ham satellite demonstration. "He was just a great guy all around and full of humor," Haighton said. "We're all going to miss him." An ARRL member, Schmitt served as a net control operator for the New Mexico Swapnet and took part in providing ham radio communication during the Cerro Grande fires in New Mexico. In 2001, Schmitt managed Earth-station duties during an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school group contact from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque. He was nearing retirement from Los Alamos National Laboratories and planning to move with his wife, Barbara, KD5CGU, to Alaska. Arrangements are pending.--Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, provided some information for this report -- ------------------------------------------- ebaY's Security Breach and Coverup http://www.auctionguild.com/generic110.html SellYourItem.com - Your Member Driven Auction Community! http://www.sellyouritem.com

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Kona, tha ATV Wonderdog!
by rod＠sbatv.org 31 May '03

31 May '03

How about a very nice ham radio dog as a pet? Paul Sheffield's (W6VLM) dog Kona (no callsign yet) is at a local shelter and is available for adoption. He's neutered and is a Husky or Malamute mix (see the link below). He's been on ATV (Paul taught him all about it) and he will try for his ham license as soon as the FCC allows! Another potential SBARC member!!! Pass the info on to your friends. The shelter is near Patterson (see the link) and is open 9-5, seven days a week. Rumor has it, Kona knows Morse Code. http://www.allforanimals.com/dogphotos.sb.htm 73, Rod, WB9KMO

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June Key-Klix Deadline Reminder!
by Dennis Morales 29 May '03

29 May '03

Monday, June 2nd , is the deadline for submissions to be published in the June issue of Key-Klix! Please get your pictures, articles, ads, etc. to me ASAP! Tnx es 73 de Denny AD6EZ<><

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[ardf-socal] Next On-foot Foxhunt 6/21 near Santa Barbara
by Marvin Johnston 24 May '03

24 May '03

Lake Los Carneros Park in Goleta, CA will be the site of southern California's next international-style on-foot foxhunt on Saturday, June 21. A ham radio license and knowledge of radio equipment is not required. All ages are welcome, but small children should be accompanied by an adult on the course. This event is being hosted by Scott Moore KF6IKO and Marvin Johnston KE6HTS. There will be five fox transmitters on 146.565 MHz FM with international-rules timing, plus one or more optional 80-meter transmitters. The site area is slightly less than 140 acres. The main 5-fox hunt begins at 9 AM. (Note that's earlier than usual.) Hunters may start any time until 11 AM. Full-color orienteering maps will be available. Bring any 2-meter and 80-meter RDF "sniffing" gear you have. If you don't have any, just bring your handi-talkie or scanner. If you don't have that, come anyway, because a limited number of RDF sets will be available for loan. Also be sure to bring anything you'll need while going after those radio foxes, such as munchies, bottled water and sunscreen. Bring your own compass, protractor and pencil if you plan to use them for map marking. Make sure that all batteries are fresh. Directions: Meet at the Stow House Parking Lot just off of Los Carneros Road. From US 101 about 8 miles west of downtown Santa Barbara, take the Los Carneros Road exit, head north about 1/4 mile and turn right into the parking lot. There should be plenty of free parking. Look for the orange-and-white orienteering flag. For a map, go to www.homingin.com Questions? Send e-mail directly to Marvin Johnston: marvin(a)rain.org Regarding the next on-foot hunt in the Los Angeles and Orange County area, mark your calendar for July 19. Location will be announced soon. Joe Moell K0OV ------------------------------------------- ebaY's Security Breach and Coverup http://www.auctionguild.com/generic110.html

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Service for Paul Sheffield, W6VLM
by rod＠sbatv.org 22 May '03

22 May '03

There will be a graveside memorial service for Paul Sheffield, W6VLM at 10 AM this Friday, May 23. The service will be held at Carpinteria Cemetery, 1501 Cravens Lane in Carpinteria. This is near Padero Lane on the mountain side of the 101 freeway and the mountain side of Sandpiper Mobile Home Park. An obituary for Paul is planned for the Thursday News Press and it's expected to contain additional details. Rod Fritz, WB9KMO

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Here are remarks from Tom Cross, KN6VV, on hearing of the W6VLM incident.
by Michael P. Jogoleff 20 May '03

20 May '03

Today, I emailed Tom Cross, KN6VV, about the 911 incident at the May SBARC General Meeting, and here is what he had to say. -- --- 73 de 'Jug' - - - WA6MBZ Michael P. Jogoleff, 1324 Panchita Place, Santa Barbara, CA 93103-2223 Tels: 805-560-0605 voice, 805-966-1598 fax. Email: mike-j(a)ix.netcom.com, wa6mbz(a)ix.netcom.com, wa6mbz(a)sbarc.org, wa6mbz(a)arrl.net, wa6mbz(a)qsl.net, wa6mbz(a)hfradio.org, mike.j(a)worldnet.att.net, wa6mbz(a)worldnet.att.net, and m.jogoleff(a)worldnet.att.net, wa6mbz(a)compuserve.com, 103225.3614(a)compuserve.com, wa6mbz(a)netzero.net, wa6mbz(a)juno.com, mike_j(a)juno.com, wa6mbz(a)yahoo.com, wa6mbz(a)excite.com, wa6mbz(a)angelfire.com, wa6mbz(a)hotmail.com. Many many thanks !!!! !! .end (2002-04-15) Hi Jug, Just happened to be on the keyboard when your email arrived! I was sorry to hear of Paul-W6VLM. How sad to hear that! Was he an older person? I did not know him. I remember Paul-W1PR but I did not know the other doctor you mentioned. I do remember Paul-W1PR being a big DX chaser on the HF bands along with Kip-K1KIP. About using 911, I use to call in emergencies, drunk drivers, accidents etc. all the time since I drive home at late hours etc. from airports but the 911 operators were so slow, dumb, or something and never did anything about it that I just gave up ever calling them no matter how bad the emergency. After a number of years of doing nothing, I became uncomfortable driving past a drunk driver, witness to an accident etc and not reporting it. I've learned something since then about using 911 in the 10 years I've had a cell phone. I think it may apply to your area as well, not sure. If I need for example the local city police to report something, I will call 911 and I tell the 911 operator to connect me directly to the Loveland City Police. I NEVER talk to the 911 operators if at all possible. It is like spitting into the wind! If I do not do this but tell the 911 operator my emergency, this 911 operator then has to call the police anyway then relay everything I just said to them. Also talking direct to the proper agency there is less chance of error in relay plus the police dispatcher (or other agency) will usually be more qualified to handle the emergency! While I'm thankful for the 911 operators being there, they are usually a low qualified type position and often "filter" info they themselves feel is not important to them. I simply tell the 911 operator "connect me to ________" then talk direct with them. My last 911 call was driving through the town of Longmont, CO about 30 minutes south of our home. I called the 911 operator and asked "Connect me to the Longmont Police Dept.". When the police dispatcher answered seconds later, I reported a drunk driver all over the road late at night and nearly hitting several cars. He had just passed us at a high rate of speed! The police knew there was a drunk driver around because many called the 911 operator to report this guy but they reported it to the 911 operator with location and hung up. When the police got the report from the 911 operator it was already old and the location was no good! They were very fustrated as they could not find this guy! In my case I was talking live to the dispatcher and relayed his exact location on line! I was able to guide the police quickly and have the drunk pulled over in several minutes. I left my name and number after he was pulled over and they called back later to thank me. He was WAY over legal limit for blood alcohol. Thanks for the update Jug and 73 for now! Tom

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Information from the ARRL on amateur band allocation changes..
by Darryl A. Widman 19 May '03

19 May '03

Information from the ARRL on amateur band allocation changes.. SB QST @ ARL $ARLB035 ARLB035 FCC declines to grant amateur LF allocation; gives five channels at 5 MHz ZCZC AG35 QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 35 ARLB035

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Corrected...
by ka6rpn＠juno.com 17 May '03

17 May '03

How grateful we both are to have known Paul for the short time we did. He was not an old timer but for all of us who knew him it sure felt that way. He really could be called a friend. He jumped in with both feet to save our Amateur Radio Club when no one else wanted to. He was there. He saved the Hamfest, when no one else wanted to, he was there. He loved to Dx when no one else wanted to, he was there. He was there when you needed someone, yes, he was there. Good bye "old timer" thank you for being there for us! Your friends, will always remember you being there. Oh, how we wish things could have been different last night at "Old Timers Night". 88's and 73 KA6RPN and WB6OBB

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