Playing Mathematics with the Stuart Piano
by
Bob Anderssen
Mathematical Modelling of Industrial Processes, CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences

For the professional musician, the sound radiated by a violin or flute

``sings'' more clearly and strongly than the sound radiated by a piano. Piano music is in fact written to cover this difficulty by having the notes follow each other more rapidly than is necessary for the violin and flute. Technically, the ``singing'' of violins and flutes can be defined in terms of the clarity and sustain of the sound that they radiate.

The talk will first discuss the significance of the Weinreich data of 1977 as an explanation for the poor clarity and sustain of even the most expensive available concert grand pianos. After some background about the new Stuart pianos, being built at the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Newcastle (Australia), the talk will explain why the Stuart pianos have the potential to ``sing'' better than other concert grand pianos.

Date received: June 18, 1999

Copyright © 1999 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # cadl-03.