@geoffkait wrote: " Is A Stradivarius Violin Easier To Hear? Science Says Nope"
Maybe not to the average listener, but to a trained, professional violinist? Yes, absolutely!
Many years ago I worked at the Banff Centre, which is where professional artists, musicians, & conductors go to hone their skills. Over the years, the Banff Centre has built up a sizeable collection of Steinway grand pianos (mainly through bequeathments). At last count (~2016), they had approx. 115 Steinways. Every Steinway had a name.
Musicians and conductors would be in residency at the Centre for anywhere from 3 weeks to 4 months. Some would specifically request their favourite Steinway by name.
In 2004 I asked one of the piano techs (who have a contract with the Smithsonian in Washington to repair their Steinways) if someone could actually hear the difference between the pianos.
The tech told me that he did a blind sound test with Oscar Peterson in 1974. Oscar, who was the director of the new Jazz Program that summer, was being very picking in selecting a piano for the summer, so the tech arranged to have 20 pianos brought together onstage for Oscar to test. The tech blindfolded Oscar and then played each piano for him.
Oscar was able to correctly identify all 20 pianos by name, blind-folded.
Maybe not to the average listener, but to a trained, professional violinist? Yes, absolutely!
Many years ago I worked at the Banff Centre, which is where professional artists, musicians, & conductors go to hone their skills. Over the years, the Banff Centre has built up a sizeable collection of Steinway grand pianos (mainly through bequeathments). At last count (~2016), they had approx. 115 Steinways. Every Steinway had a name.
Musicians and conductors would be in residency at the Centre for anywhere from 3 weeks to 4 months. Some would specifically request their favourite Steinway by name.
In 2004 I asked one of the piano techs (who have a contract with the Smithsonian in Washington to repair their Steinways) if someone could actually hear the difference between the pianos.
The tech told me that he did a blind sound test with Oscar Peterson in 1974. Oscar, who was the director of the new Jazz Program that summer, was being very picking in selecting a piano for the summer, so the tech arranged to have 20 pianos brought together onstage for Oscar to test. The tech blindfolded Oscar and then played each piano for him.
Oscar was able to correctly identify all 20 pianos by name, blind-folded.