In 2010 a second CD entitled A New Voice II was released by Stuart & Sons to coincide with the launch of its expanded keyboard compass of 102 notes. The expanded frequency range of C0 16Hz to F85587.65 Hz made this the largest piano ever to be made in the 300 year history of the piano. Five lower notes were added to the bass register. The lowest note of the 97 note compass is F0 21.82 Hz, and the lowest note of the 102 compass is C016Hz. The highest note F85587.65 Hz is the same in both the 97 a 102 compasses.
Pianist Bill Risby produced improvisations in these Stuart & Sons sessions that profoundly influenced my approaches to playing the Stuart piano.His improvisations reveal a superb understanding of the Stuart sound. He produced a distinct tone and played with intricate attention to the complex inner harmonic balances as the sounds sustain. In the audio excerpt link below, Risby creates a sound effect with the extreme bass registers, producing a deep abstract sound that is created by the palm of his left hand, gently striking the bass strings. These particular bass strings are being sustained by the selective sustain of the sostenu to pedal. The deep low sound maintains its harmonic and dynamic quality whilst the treble sounds are activated by the hammer strikes, played by the right hand. In this sound, several contrasting harmonic layers sustain simultaneously.As stated previously by Zubin Kanga, these layers are clearly defined in the Stuart piano soundscape.
| Bill Risby -Native Sky excerpt.wav USB Audio 1: trk 3 |
| Native Sky excerpt. Sound table 0.3 |
| Native Sky audioexcerpt |
| Sound table 0.3 |
I have found an extraordinary amount of sustain in the sound of Wayne Stuart’s piano,
which has opened up a whole palette of sounds- when I studied Debussy, the score instructed you to hold down a bass note, without sounding it, and let the harmonics of the held note sound sympathetically with the played notes in the treble,… doing this on a Stuart piano is a completely different sound.- not only can all the harmony be heard completely clearly in that single held note, but they sustain for a very long time… and you can use that sustained effect to play with… selecting its sustain with the sostenuto pedal and continue playing to then reharmonise the sound that you’ve sustained.69
The Stuart piano was the featured instrument of the Kinetic Jazz Festivals in Sydney, in 2010 & 2011. At these festivals over twenty Australian jazz pianists improvised on the extended frequency ranges of 97 keys, higher and lower than the standard 88 keys of the traditional modern piano. The performances
69Bill Risby speaking on 2 “Innovations In Piano” Know Your Music,3MBS FM Victoria Public Radio (Melbourne, VIC: 3MBS FM, 2010).
