You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?



02-2-2017 06:06:31  #11


Re: Touch typing on the Smith Premier

TypewriterKing wrote:

Touch-typing would definitely be different. One hand would have to be above the other to reach the upper keyboard--I would suspect the right hand. There have been times when, while I'm on the phone, or eating or drinking something, I could type with one hand--usually my right.

Laughing Out Loud, that's quite a talent!  Clearly people who used them all day long developed their own keyboard skills, whether part of a formal system or not.  I came upon a Smith Premier manual with fingerings for all the keys - it was an extension of the touch typing fingering we know today for the most part, each finger assigned upper keys in continuation of the lower keys. Whether this was practice or pipe dream I cannot know.

Darn it all - this thread has thrown a hankering on me for a Smith Premier just so I can learn to touch type on it! This is a very important skill in the contemporary marketplace.  
 


"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton".
 

02-2-2017 18:35:57  #12


Re: Touch typing on the Smith Premier

Well--you could try the next best thing:  try typing with TWO typewriters at the same time.  I know it will be a side-by-side affair instead of an uppy-down--unless you rig up a way to put a machine above and slightly to the rear--kind of like a Wurlitzer Pipe Organ.  You could probably build a small stand that would go over a lower typewriter without impeding the lower one's carriage.  Set the other typewriter on top, and you could get a pretty good idea just what it's like typing with a double keyboard.  Let me know how you come out.  Come to think of it, I just might try this project out myself!!


Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
 

07-2-2017 14:04:30  #13


Re: Touch typing on the Smith Premier

It wouldn't be impossible.
If someone can create wonderful music (subjective of course) on a multi rank pipe organ or produce copy on a Line-O-Type machine (also full key board) then you can certainly teach yourself to touch type on the afore mentioned machine.
It is likely that you will have to study the task and the machine to determine how touch typing will be done on it.

 

13-2-2017 08:53:46  #14


Re: Touch typing on the Smith Premier

Repartee wrote:

But you could still become a virtuoso in finger jumps, something like this...

https://youtu.be/cIxGUAnj46U?t=48s

He looks! (There's a bit of business where he theatrically doesn't, but that's different and it isn't at the really hard bit.) You have to wonder what was actually intended in nature. ;)

(Thanks for the music, too)

 

13-2-2017 14:06:45  #15


Re: Touch typing on the Smith Premier

KatLondon wrote:

He looks!

And that made me look - at the video.

Liszt was a piano virtuoso, so it's not a surprise that his compositions would showcase a pianist's technique. Liszt was also - from what I've read - prone to "theatrics", and I find your observation to be interesting because as voyeurs of masterful piano recitals we sometimes are placed in a position where we have to determine whether or not the exaggerated movements of a pianist are disingenuous.

Admittedly, I am biased in my admiration of Glenn Gould because he was a fellow Canuck, but his technique seemed to be greatly affected by theatrics. The man seemed to enter a trance-like state when he played and he often hummed loudly along with the music, which of course added an extra element of drama to his performances. Was this an air, or was he truly overcome by the music? Someone more familiar with Gould would undoubtedly have a definitive answer, but I've always thought he was rather genuine and his performance eccentricities the side-effect of genius. It's difficult - for me - to watch, for example, the performance below without getting caught up in the emotional maelstrom that Gould appears to be experiencing.




 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

13-2-2017 15:01:00  #16


Re: Touch typing on the Smith Premier

I came so close to posting a Gould video, too; I am so glad you did.  All six slots of the CD player in my car are are occupied with Glenn Gould. Glenn Gould playing Bach is about all I listen to currently. It is wonderful beyond belief. I love watching him play, too. I believe his expressions, mannerisms, and theatrics while playing were genuine. I cannot say whether or not he played it up a bit extra once he became known for it, but from what I have seen in videos, documentaries, and interviews, he was truly overcome by the music.

 

13-2-2017 18:14:33  #17


Re: Touch typing on the Smith Premier

Not being an afficianado, aren't his Bach pieces, which I agree are above sublime (and yes, this is a time that the word awesome can actually be used), what he is best known for? I'm more of a Beethoven junkie, so I've always liked his renditions of Liszt's transcriptions of LVB's symphonies. In particular the Allegretto from the 7th is a piece that always turns me into an emotional wreck. I think that I'll watch Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould tonight. It's been many years since I've seen the film and I remember it being a fantastic exploration of the man and his wee chair.


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

13-2-2017 19:00:16  #18


Re: Touch typing on the Smith Premier

Yes, Bach is indeed what he is best known for. Many feel he channeled Bach in a way that nobody ever has or ever will. Opinions are mixed on some of his renditions of Beethoven, but I have not listened to enough Beethoven, or Gould's renditions of Beethoven to be able to judge for myself; it is just what I have read.

While I really enjoyed Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, I don't think I would have fully appreciated it without having watched documentaries and interviews with Gould first, so I could understand some of the meaning and subtleties to what they were portraying.

 

13-2-2017 22:19:58  #19


Re: Touch typing on the Smith Premier

Uwe wrote:

Not being an afficianado, aren't his Bach pieces, which I agree are above sublime (and yes, this is a time that the word awesome can actually be used), what he is best known for? I'm more of a Beethoven junkie, so I've always liked his renditions of Liszt's transcriptions of LVB's symphonies. In particular the Allegretto from the 7th is a piece that always turns me into an emotional wreck. I think that I'll watch Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould tonight. It's been many years since I've seen the film and I remember it being a fantastic exploration of the man and his wee chair.

One of my too many degrees is in music, and I share your absolute adoration of the Beethoven-Liszt transcriptions. And Gould's performances of them are the gold standard. My favorite has always been the 5th, which really comes alive for me in its piano form. The 2nd movement takes my breath away when heard on the pianoforte, in a way that the orchestration does not.

Gould's recordings of the Bach inventions are also worthy of our attention.
 

 

13-2-2017 23:38:29  #20


Re: Touch typing on the Smith Premier

Uwe wrote:

In particular the Allegretto from the 7th is a piece that always turns me into an emotional wreck.

That was fantastic. I have been working slowly through his catalogue; I am definitely going to add that to my list.

 

Board footera

 

Powered by Boardhost. Create a Free Forum