to have a very quick attack,and be able to speak in extreme frequency ranges
at the same time and not have masking or muddying of the soundscape. ³³

The nature of coupling in the standard piano of the two pin system produces muddiness because of complex counter phasing issues at the point of annunciation of the sound. ³⁴

Vertical Concepts.

Vertical definition of sound is the Physics of sound, how sound behaves. Traditional western music has relied on lineal notation and a lineal concept of sound to covey its aesthetics and ethos…but the Impressionists decided that wasn’t working and what they wanted to explore was the colour of sound, how sound behaves. Most music, unless its regressive, that has been composed through the 20th Century and to our current time has sort to explore the vertical soundscape, in other words the colour and the way sound behaves. This has become a very important aspect for post 1945 music, particularly with electronic musical instruments, because we now have an energy source that is capable of sustaining and exploring that vertical soundscape, whereas in the tradition acoustic instruments, particularly in the percussive ones, you have a diminishing energy resource once the string is struck, you’re losing energy.³⁵

Both Wayne Stuart and Stephen Paulello suggest ³⁶ that early in the 20th Century, piano makers were prevented from responding to changes in music composition aesthetics as they had traditionally done, because of the newly industrialised mechanization of piano manufacturing that was associated with the standardisation of piano design and sound. The Stuart piano agraffe is claimed (above) to be a design response to contemporary trends in 20th Centruy music composition.

The detailed comparative data of piano sound quality presented in chapter 4, demonstrates four tonal characteristics that were found to be unique to the Stuart piano sound. These findings support Wayne Stuart’s claims to have achieved a piano sound with an expanded dynamic range and an enhanced clarity and sustain. ³⁷The Stuart piano design is therefore presented in this research as a piano design that has adapted to changes in how music is produced and generally listened to in the 21st century.

Wayne Stuart and Stephen Paulello suggest ³⁸ the reason the piano ‘lost its footing’ as the central instrument of contemporary art music in the late 19^th century was because it had discontinued its association with contemporary composition and was more focussed on the efficiency of production, accepting its musical evolution was complete. ³⁹

It is well documented that the first piano, Cristofori’s invention of the piano in the early 1700s,was a response to the contemporary musical forms of its time. The harpsichord had limitations for timbre

³³Wayne Stuart speaking on : “Innovations In Piano”,Know Your Music,3MBS FM Victoria Public Radio (Melbourne, VIC: 3MBS FM, 2010).
^{34     2}Stuart speaking on, Know Your Music,
^{35     3}Stuart speaking on, Know Your Music,
^{36     2}Paulello“Concepts page” ‘By then standardized the 88 keyed, cross strung, iron framed, pinned bridged pianos was promoted as the being ‘perfect’- also see, 2Stuart, A Bright Light in a Stagnant Pond.
³⁷Wayne Stuart’s claims: see p.17 & p.53
^{38     3}Paulello“Concepts page,” and 3 Stuart, A Bright Light in a Stagnant Pond.
³⁹Piano historians Good , Ehrlich, Loesser, Schonberg and Gardner, all discuss this change of emphasis in piano design, due to mechanization and standardization.