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Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle harmonium/piano tuning

Date: May 20, 2013
by Andrea Goodman mail icon
Views: 368
Has anyone had the misfortune of trying to tune a piano with a harmonium/reed organ in this lovely work? We had the misfortune of having rented an 1880's reed organ for our performance and discovered upon delivery (at the dress rehearsal no less) that it was tuned at A=435. Other than retuning a piano to match this, does anyone have a solution to this problem? We ended up using an electric piano that had a harmonium option that we grabbed from a student in the piano lab and plugged speakers into it. It sounded fine in a pinch but was NOT even close to authentic for obvious reasons.
Martin Braun on May 21, 2013 3:56am
Hi Andrea,
 
If you tune down the piano from A440 to A435 there is a risk that the tuning is unstable and needs to be redone. It depends on the instrument. I would ask the piano tuner about that.
 
A slightly more expensive, but safe, method would be to replace all reeds of the reed organ. Each reed can easily be pulled out and replaced by a new one tuned to A440. You only need a crooked tool for the pulling, which you can make yourself by bending a piece of wire (3-4 mm thick).
 
Before ordering the complete set of new reeds just pull out the old ones from both ends of the key scale, take a digital photo of them (which also shows the engraved tone names on the reeds), and send it to the shop where you order new pieces of these two plus all others in between.
 
These reeds (both new and old ones) are extremely robust against detuning and can be pulled in and out of an instrument as often as you like.
 
Good luck,
 
Martin
 
-------------------------------------------
Martin Braun
Neuroscience of Music
S-66492 Värmskog
Sweden
http://www.neuroscience-of-music.se/index.htm
 
Andrea Goodman on May 22, 2013 12:09pm
Thank you Martin! We were using a Bosendorfer so if we retuned that I would have lost my job! I think folks will find your suggestion very helpful, and many will decide to using a regular organ rahter than deal with the challenges. Very lovely work all the same.
Andrea Goodman
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