Transposing pianos

Any thoughts regarding transposing pianos? I am referring to a type of piano which has a stick shift, which enables the player to maintain, for example, c major / a minor fingering, while locating a suitable key for a vocalist. Irving Berlin had one. So did George Cohan. I have only been reading this newsgroup for a short while, though I have noticed a lot of discussion regarding the relative merits of traditional mechanical pianos as compared to digital pianos. My Casio has a transposing function, and it just would not be possible for me to overstate how very useful I have found this function to be.

Michael Mandaville

Michael,

it would be very difficult if not impossible to construct such a transposing device for a regular piano. Due to the string arrangement (overstrung) every hammer has 'his' string. So it wouldn't work to shift the complete action like for instance in harpsichords (although here it is used rather to shift between A440 and A415, a half step). The only chance in a piano would be, to shift the keys seperately from the action. It would require a very precise mechanism, because a defined contact between keys and action is very important for a good touch.

So I doubt that there would be much interest in such a piano, also because it should be virtually impossible to construct that transposing unit so it could transpose more than a half step, because if you need 88 tones, you'd need additional strings for each step you want to shift the action.

BTW, you'd be surprised how easily experienced players are sometimes (often?) able to transpose right away.

Best regards,

Dear russell, Absolutely! best penny

p.s. It should be taught to every elementary school child. Then we would have a musically literate society.

Every musician, every listener, every child. Where is Zoltan K., when we need him?

Maybe instead of nonsense about Pilgrims and too much sports, elementary schools should teach the circle of fifths and fourths? We might have a better world. best

Hello. Circles of fifths AND fourths? That would be redundant. Sincerely,

Naval Research Laboratory 4555 Overlook Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20375-5337

Sounds great. I cross my fingers for the project. If you like, keep us informed about it.

Are there schools in your area that have had their music programs cut and would be interested in raising money by selling off stuff?

Hello again, Jens,

As I have mentioned before, I actually prefer an unweighted action, and, if I add to that the transposing function of my digital keyboard, I have something now which will, at the very least, certainly keep me very busy for awhile. For the long run, though, I have an idea which will enable me to have what for me will be the best of both the digital and traditional worlds. What I have in mind is to use my digital keyboard to telegraph signals to a traditional piano.

Michael Mandaville