Tone production?

Yes but they all demand that you can draw the kind of tone you want from the piano, and that tone is something in your pianistic vocabulary at all.

I randomly missed that DaVent wrote he didn’t play the piano. If it helps I can write a little about the bro-science behind it, which might make this subconscious part a bit clearer (although I don’t think it’s that different from on guitar).

Den we have anotha aspect - playing in a large hall.

I used to practice in enormous ballet studios on small Steinway grands, and learned to get a full “projected” tone, back in 2011

Then I randomly got to the point where I would start to force and play everything with a deep keybed tone, sweat buckets and have a large amount of wrong notes…

Somehow it is not just about volume, but projection and how well you balance all the elements of a texture

Beauty of the tone itself is subjective

Some pieces demand a brilliant and articulated tone while others need a more “muted” yet big bodied quality

Da TRU masters like da FRIEDRICE wud make da melody notes “glow” with EXPERT bass support, juz enriching da overtone series of da note AFTER it has been struck

All dat being said, yes, dere is such a thing as a “pure beautiful tone” even on one UNPEDALLED motherfucking note, and don’t let anyone tell you othawise

2 Likes

Den we can get into things like “recorded tone” wiz @xsdc which is anotha art

Like taking a gud photo

Imho da best piano recs haff a slightly hazy, muted quality.
I is thinking of all da Abbey Road HMV studio recs in particular.
Like a monochrome pic dat can make even da :hui: HOT.

image

1 Like

Yeah I don’t actually play, but it’s my favorite instrument (go figure). It would help in understanding it better if you could explain this.

Da moz beautiful n pure 88 tone I haff evah heard













Belong to Maeztro Midi :sunglasses:

2 Likes

Cuntroverzial az alwayz :sunglasses:

1 Like

Ah da glowing tone n RICH harmonies. Daddy Friedman!

Moistbeach dun disappoint

Holy shit, early HO smooth as balls

Cortot!

Edwin Fucker:

And da NAZI EVENING BALLZ

The way a pianist thinks of sound production (it’s not strictly speaking correct) is that sound at the piano is fundamentally created by the weight and the speed with which a key is struck, and it’s the degree and relation between the two which creates tone. The nasty & wonderful thing is that despite being a mechanical instrument a piano is quite sensitive in picking up even minute differences, which is why a good pianist can control it almost like we can with our voice. Furthermore, the actual speed and weight you apply to a key depends on some complex bio mechanics. Everything from how you lean your upper body down to the angle of the finger joints - basically any combination of anything that can move from your feet up - will affect that speed/weight relationship at the fingertip.

Learning to play the piano is partly about making your brain learn to control all this in a deep-learning kind of way, in order to produce the desired sounds at the piano to make the music sound like you want it to. A poor pianist will only have rudimentary mastery of this, while a good one who’s played since he/she was 6 will have it to a very fine degree indeed. But one thing you’ll notice early on is that for this to work without friction and the music to come out the way you want it to, muscle relaxation and a sharp, focused mind are key. Anything which affects either of those will put your piano DL network slightly off base, which will affect the biomechanics, and thereby how you sound.

2 Likes

What an illuminating answer, thank you. So basically your whole body goes into it. I like what you say about muscle relaxation and a focused mind, I can see how that applies to most instruments!

Why speed/weight is only a mental model...

The weight thing might make sense if you think of a large church bell struck with a toothpick, a baseball bat, and a big oak log at isometric speed, but the reason it’s just a mental model at the piano is that even if you can alter the weight that falls on to a key, you can’t actually alter the weight of the hammer inside the piano which strikes the string. So the only variable you “actually” have is hammer speed. The important thing is rather that you alter the joints’ involvement as shock absorbers. A pianist thinks of a horizontal finger pressing down a key as a small weight and a vertical finger, with the entire hand behind it, as a large weight - but it’s actually that with the horizontal finger your joints will absorb part of the energy on strike so that less goes in to the string, whereas with the vertical finger the joints are stiff and in a worse position to absorb any of the impact. You can try this by striking a chord at the piano twice, first with a relaxed hand and then with a tense hand. The relaxed hand will produce a softer sound with a more mellow touch, compared to the harder and more unpleasant one with the tense hand - but you haven’t actually altered the weight, you have altered the involvement of the natural shock absorbers of your finger joints and wrist. This is why being able to be relaxed - or in other words having control of the most minute tension in your hand, wrist, elbow etc - is so important when you play, since even small offsets will change hammer speed.

1 Like

Daim this sort of sheeyat is very enlightening, thanks. To a simple enthusiast this stuff’s not obvious.

Hahah da moz beautiful tone iz a 2 way tie beween

da firzt zecond ov da live :zif: bee

n da :ho: HR 15

3 Likes

No and it’s not necessary to know either. But when someone starts talking about doctors and girlfriends to improve piano tone I understand if some background is required. :nerd_face: What it’s about is relaxation and peace of mind, and the many reasons why you may not be relaxed or have peace of mind.

I really do wish more pianists would be aware - or take in to consideration - this weight/relaxation thinking when playing however since it’s so important to get a full, resounding tone from the piano. When you hear a pianist schooled that way in concert the difference is really quite enormous compared to pianists who are not. Also the backbone of the “Russian Piano School”, even if it’s not actually tied to nationality.

da FRIEDMOFO penizm approach
tiz like each split-second he decide to make zumthin intereztin eithah on da vertical or da horizontal dimenzion fuckkkk inzanly diztractin fo da MART

da weird zheeyat iz

da TRUMOFO dun play lyk diz n take da mo BIG PICTCHAH approach :tm: :tm: :tm:

zo I have diz theory dat we admire da peniztz hu are different from ourzelve

n da MART zoundz lyk da FRIEDMOFO ? :sunglasses:

3 Likes

Isn’t this about like with love? Some fall in love because they find similarities, others because they find differences.

I’m firmly in the former camp, but it doesn’t matter that much with pianists. I feel most at home with Richter, Hamelin, Zimerman, de Larrocha and so forth - but yet Horowitz is shared #1 evah for me, despite that I know he’s not on my team.

HAHAHA tru da Friedrice bazically walk thro da forezt fazcinated by da flowahz on each tree he pazz :deciduous_tree: :evergreen_tree: :palm_tree: :tanabata_tree:

N da :rectum: juz cruize above da whole forezt in a choppa :helicopter:

1 Like

For me Friedman is the pianistic Kreisler. I think he excels in miniatures or music that is highly episodic.

1 Like

Ahahahahah diz make zenze :sunglasses:

:zepp: :zcholah:

2 Likes

Tru I will requezt da :zcholah: opinion on da :zepp: :sunglasses:

2 Likes