Touch-Tone Piano

I always thought things like that were akin to the follow-through in tennis, baseball, etc.  There's no possible way that the racquet, bat, etc. can influence the ball after it's hit, but if you think about the follow-through, your swing mechanics are more controlled.

Same goes for the way you play notes on a piano.  There's no possible way (given the same velocity and good construction of the action) that hitting the keys different ways can mechanically change how the hammers hit the strings, but stroking the keys, for instance, probably gives you more control in the piano-pianissimo dynamic range.  Using flattened fingers might prevent you from putting too much "punch" in the notes.  Mechanically, all that matters is the speed the key is traveling when the hammer hits the string, but controlling that velocity usually requires those kinds of techniques.  Everyone is different and some may not require them, but if a particular method of striking the keys helps you control the sound, then it's a good thing.

Only a really very worn old, which keys and mechanisms are far worn, could have some variance, cause it would shake or someting like that, and the hammer would hit the string not in the same exact point.

That's the only thing I can imagine.  Otherwise would be pure superstition, like spring holy water in the keyboard to get a fine tuning.

One must never forget that advertising jingo is just that - jingo.

Which translated, roughly means nonsense (I'm being polite - the expressive, meaningful, and most common term actually refers to bulls).

However, that being said, some keyboards (not pianos) do have aftertouch - when the key is pressed down hard at the bottom of the stroke, an affect can be introduced into the sound.

Hard keystrokes (high velocity) will produce some more dissonant overtones than soft strikes (lower velocity), but the primary change in the resulting sound is loudness.

If one records a midi file at low velocities, renders it in Pianoteq, and then boosts the overall volume, it will sound different than if the same midi file first has all the velocities boosted (avoiding 127) and is then rendered in PT.

Glenn

Chris:

Thanks for finding and posting the research papers.

A little background of me - my mother was a certified/registered piano teacher, and she taught me that how the key was played - either struck or stroked - would change the tone.  It was believed and still is by most classically trained pianists, and is dogma in music schools.

I believed it for many years, but eventually my physics, math, and engineering caught up, and I started to realize that musicians were imagining the differences - most notably the ones that used the techniques of striking and stroking.  (I never told my mother).

I have read the second paper through; scanned the first one, but felt that the first one (published in 1925) wouldn't have had nearly sophisticated enough equipment (waveform analysis) to be able to conclude anything significant (besides it's way too long and rambles on and on).  I haven't read the third but will.

In the Conclusion to the first paper by Goebl/Bresin/Galembo, I found the following very interesting and I believe, very significant.

"Our results suggest that only some musicians are able to distinguish between a struck note and a pressed touch using the touch noises as cue, especially the finger-key noise that characterizes a struck attack.   Without those touch noises (finger hitting the key) none of them could tell any difference anymore."

So it would seem that SOME were able to tell the difference only because they could hear the sound of the finger hitting the key in struck key sound.   When the finger started on the key (pressed touch), there is no noise of the finger hitting the key.

When this aspect is removed, none of the test subjects could tell the difference.

They are being kind and gentle when they say, "In the light of the present results, we consider the pure aural affect of touch noises (excluding visual and other cues) a rather small one."

Once the hammer starts moving towards the strings, the pianist has no control over how it strikes the strings.  I have no argument with timbre or tone changing with hammer velocity - it's quite audible and has been modeled in Pianoteq.  Higher hammer velocities produce harsher tones and vice versa.

Looking forward to some interesting rebuttals.

Glenn

Chris:

I scanned the third reference, and they concluded that note G5 had some discernible differences - which doesn't surprise me when I think about it.

The upper treble sounds on an acoustic grand are weaker and extraneous noises become more apparent.   I'm referring to the noise of the key hitting the key bed.  I have a friend (mentioned on this site previously) that is an excellent pianist, and who operates a business restoring pianos.  We often talk of these things - how sound is produced, propagated, and heard.  Incidentally, he doesn't believe in the concept either.

On several occasions he has had a grand piano with the strings removed, and we have "played" the keys.  The sound of the key hitting the key bed is quite loud, but it is constant throughout the full range.  And I might add, resonates into the soundboard.

However, in the upper treble with smaller, shorter strings, where the sound is less robust, this key bed noise is a greater part of the overall sound than it is in the lower notes.

Add in the noise of the finger contacting the key surface (which doesn't occur when the key is stroked or with the finger starting on the key), and it seems that there should be a discernible difference between high and low notes.

An interesting finding/statement in the Conclusion of this third report is, ". . . however, it is in a much lesser degree than most pianists expect".

I could concede that there is a slight difference, but isn't the most important question:  "Is is the difference significant"?  If it's not significant, then why do we keep fooling ourselves?

This belief is extremely hard to dispel because pianists have believed it and practiced it for centuries - and the belief is still being taught at otherwise credible music schools.

The third study was done in collaboration with a pianist that believes in the concept - if I had conducted the tests, I would be hard pressed to write a conclusion that refuted what my collaborator believed.

Glenn

As far as I'm concerned - nothing.

But the second reference was comparing hitting a key with the finger and driving the hammer onto the strings compared to starting with the finger on the key and pushing down to achieve the same hammer velocity.

In the first case, there is a slight noise of the finger hitting the surface of the key.   It must be very small, but it is a noise, and although not very musical (wink, wink), it is a noise that some highly attuned pianists can hear.  So when these pianists did a listening test, they could hear the finger strike the key, and thus know the key wasn't "stroked".

What we might gather from this is - although some pianists can tell the difference between the sounds generated, the noise of the finger hitting doesn't really make the resulting sound softer.

In reply to Chris's last post, there are times when I play the piano, that it sounds much better, I play better, and I am more creative in my arrangements.  At least that's the mood I'm in, so I really believe that I'm better.

However, last night I was listening to some stuff I recorded six years ago that I should have discarded.  But I was now listening to the midi file being played by Pianoteq, rather than my first Roland.

Guess what? - those recordings I nearly tossed sounded wonderful to me.

We are all affected by things in our head, and we hear things because we feel them.

I don't think that these pianists are being dishonest - they truly believe they have control over the tone by varying the strike method.

Emotions are a powerful influence on our perception.

Glenn

Guitarists often say that the "fingering noise" is part of the character of the guitar, and is important.  I'm not keen on the noise, but I understand their argument.

On the other hand, is the noise of a finger hitting a key considered to be an important part of piano sounds?

Since only "some" professional pianists could tell the difference, this might suggest that the finger noise is not an important characteristic of piano music.

I have never been able to detect this noise when playing, and usually I don't even notice the sound of the key hitting the key bed on an acoustic piano.  On my digital with the sound turned off I can hear the keys hitting the key bed, but I still don't notice the sound of my finger hitting the keys.

Can anyone else detect the noise of the finger touching the keys?

Glenn

Glenn

If Pianoteq would emulate this extra "brand" of noise, would require a special controller, able to differentiate those different touchs with same velocity.

I agree completely, Glenn. Besides, these noises are probably inaudible from an audience perspective anyway. So no need to include them in any model, they won't be missed

Háaa háaa...  those old prehistoric video games...

People belived they could get a half bit comand if move the joystick specially.