Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Thread on Tuner-Tech forum u might find 'interesting'... :-)

when someone keeps breaking strings

Yes, I read that - was amusing.

So. Is there any valid reason, technique, etc that would cause a pianist to habitually break strings?

This was good:

If you know any technique that would cause strings to break, because I spent a lot time for a few years as a teenager trying to develop that ability

The chuckles continue in the same thread.


Scenario:

Your new concert grand was just delivered. You want to baptize it with one of the great romantic concertos. You suddenly experience string empathy and mf and senza pedale creeps into your mind.

Ain't gonna happen!

I know exactly how to do it, but I don't see why one would want to drain money from their own pocket.

vale la pena

It is known that all musical instruments reach a saturation point where no more sound is available. Of any quality.

This saturation point happens well below the point where there is a danger of split reeds or lips and broken drum heads or strings.

There are stories of breaking strings that beginners latch on to and begin to think breaking strings is some sort of accomplishment. Paganini did it on purpose in order to demonstrate how much he could do on the one remaining violin string.

Accomplished musicians know where the point of maximum projecting volume of quality tone is on their particular instrument. It is below the point of saturation. Which puts it way below the point of instrument damage, even on relatively precarious instruments.

There should be no reason for a musician to damage any instrument.

I don't think breaking strings actually damages the piano, usually. And as to a good reason for it, it's simple - you get carried away by the music, which can be a good thing. Or not.

Keep in mind that in the Tuner/Tech forum they believe that a piano is not to be played. It merely exists for them to tune it twice a year and do a total voicing and action regulation every other year. However, they are very happy to accept the check for replacing a broken string from exceeding the mf limit or for replacing damper felts from "excessive use of the sustain pedal."

Mark C is totally correct that their logic is totally baffling.

I am thy tuner extraordinaire, and thou shalt not choose other tuners before me.
Thou shalt not build any model smaller than a 52" vertical.
Thou shalt not take the name of Cristofori in vain.
Remember the day your piano was delivered and keep it holy.
Honour thy Hannon and Czerny.
Thou shalt not break strings, nor use the pedals.
Thou shalt not play another's piano
Thou shalt not download copyright tuning manuals.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy tuner.
Thou shalt not covet your neighbor's concert grand, or the fact that he plays fff con molto pedale.

Bless me Steinway for I have sinned - I have played my piano loudly and used the pedals.

Actually it's not at all that I think their logic was baffling. I think their humor was great, and that's why I posted there and here.

Yea, I guess logic was ill-chosen vocabulary. The problem is that I'm not sure that they see the humor involved!

Is this even for real?
I've been playing for over 20 years, play on the forceful side if anything, and have had a string break exactly once. It was a work piano, too, not a regular practice instrument.

If breaking strings is not actually doing any damage, then there is no damage to repair. Can I come and live in your world? (part of me already does).

You are not too sure yourself about loss of self control, (or not). I could agree with you except that I have had the fortune to work with some of the legends of the piano world when they were in their eighties, in one case, ninety- something. They have only the strength to get onto the stage yet they can project to their audience a colossal range of tonal volume, colour along with a large range of emotion. I have maintained the pianos in the homes and studios of such hi class pianists. They don't break strings.

We all heard in the Rubinstein competition links. A few pianists know how to create a wide range of tone colours even at high volume. Many more played with no attention to this aspect at all.

In 53 years, I have had one string break, and I am playing on the exact same piano I did when I was nine. However, I didn't break it, but my tuner did.

He warned me ahead of time that because I had waited two years to have it tuned, and given the age of the instrument, that it would happen. It is a middle bass A string so I can live with it.

As far a pianist breaking strings while playing, I play with a very large sound, but I don't bang on it, which is what some people do. Alexander Toradze literally destroys pianos, and a lot of people think that is cool. I think it is royally stupid, and also most unmusical.

Earl Wild teaches in his book that if a pianist is playing in a big hall then they need to adjust their pedaling by not pedaling every beat, and just strike the piano a little harder. For instance, in the "A Tempo" section of the intro. to the Rach 2nd, he doesn't change pedal on the second beat, but instead strikes the G natural just a tad harder to bring it out.

Finally, 1) if you break enough strings then no amount of voicing is going to smooth it out and you will have to pay very large money to have it restrung, and 2) if a pianist is consistently breaking strings, then they are beating up more than just their piano. They are beating up their hands, wrists, and also possibly developing a later propensity for osteoarthritis.

Usually, breaking a string doesn't damage a piano. It damages the string.

As I said, tuner/techs believe that a piano shouldn't be played. We should only pay to have it serviced. Isn't every note struck causing "damage to the hammer?" If not, there would be no need for shaping or voicing. Don't use the action, whatever you do. You'll "damage" the bushings and all sorts of parts which should remain unused.

Wear and tear is damage.

It is almost certain that tuners break more strings than pianists do. Sometimes on accident, sometimes not. I remember BDB saying he stresses the strings a bit (or something) when tuning so if they are going to break, they will break right then instead of during the performance.


If you get yourself a tuning hammer, you can adjust it here every week or so, getting it close enough to in tune. Then it's not very expensive to have a string replaced.

Speaking from very personal experience, I have the best Baldwin Baby Grand in San Antonio. It is a 1949 Model M, and it has had excellent care taken of it. Even if you don't like my video, you have to admit that the sound it emits is fairly remarkable for a 65 year old instrument.

It has had one new set of hammers, and one new set of key tops. I currently have the thermostat set at 73 degrees, and it goes up to 74 at night.

Every six months or so, I pull the action and do some minor voicing. And, I play 2 hours in the morning and the same in the afternoon.

If the average automobile was built like the pianos of old, it would last a hundred years. And, in regards piano strings, why do you think some people use piano wire to strangle someone to death. They do so because it has one of highest tensile strengths known to man.

Regularly breaking strings is not a normal part of owning a fine piano!

I've broken two or three strings in my life, but none of them were on my piano.