Scholarly discussion of the music of John Cage.

["Goldstein, Louis" <>]

If you insert things between the strings, then you stretch the strings, so yes, there is always some strain on the tuning.  If you're gentle and if the piano is one that holds its tuning well, then it should still be usable afterward, although slightly out of tune.  If it's a piano with a loose pin block, one that goes out of tune quickly, then the same preparations can cause a disaster and you will need a technician on hand.

Stretching the strings slightly is not damaging the strings - strings stretch and go out of tune when the piano is played from the keyboard.  Bach makes a piano go out of tune.  Oils from your clean hands will eventually discolor the strings.  For people who have paid $50K for a piano, this often constitutes damage, but I don't believe it changes the sounds that the strings produce.  Use rubber gloves to keep your skin off the strings and it won't be an issue.

The parts of the piano that are easiest to damage are the dampers.  Try to not even touch them.  They're held in place by a thin wire that's easy to bend and difficult to repair.

Richard Bunger's book is very good.  It is also likely hard to find.  The Well-Prepared Pianist.

Don't force anything.

Louie

On Sun, Sep 10, 2023 at 3:38 PM Dionysis Boukouvalas <> wrote:

I am thinking of performing some of Cage's work for the prepared piano.

I'm sure this is a (C)age-old question (forgive me the pun, I couldn't resist), but:

Does preparing the piano detune it? I.e. do I have to have a piano technician stand-by to retune the piano after I remove the preparations? (e.g. to play a non-prepared piece).

Thank you!

Dionysis.

P.S. I read somewhere that it might even harm the piano strings, but I guess if I do it in a careful manner that won't happen.