Tone: Single versus Multiple Notes

8/19/2019 Tone: Single versus Multiple Notes

1/5

Tone: Single versus Multiple Notes

Tone is the quality of the sound; whether the sum total of all the properties of

the sound is appropriate for the music. There is controversy over whether a

pianist can control the "tone" of a single note on the piano. If you were to sit

at the piano and play one note, it seems nearly impossible to alter the tone

except for things like staccato, legato, loud, soft, etc. n the other hand,

there is no question that di!erent pianists produce di!ering tones. Two

pianists can play the same composition on the same piano and produce

music with very di!erent tonal quality. ost of this apparent contradiction can

be resolved by carefully de#ning what "tone" means. $or example, a large

part of the tonal di!erences among pianists can be attributed to the

particular pianos they use, and the way those pianos are regulated or tuned.

%ontrolling the tone of a single note is probably &ust one aspect of a multi'

faceted, complex issue. Therefore, the most important distinction we mustmake initially is whether we are talking about a single note or a group of

notes. ost of the time, when we hear di!erent tones, we are listening to a

group of notes. In that case, tone di!erences are easier to explain. Tone is

mostly produced by the control of the notes relative to each other. This

almost always comes down to precision, control and musical content.

Therefore, tone is mainly a property of a group of notes and depends on the

musical sensitivity of the pianist.

(owever, it is also clear that we can control the tone of a single note inseveral ways. )e can control it by use of the soft and damper pedals. )e can

also change the harmonic content *the number of overtones+ by playing

louder or softer. The soft pedal changes the tone, or timbre, by reducing the

prompt sound relative to the after sound. )hen a string is struck with a

greater force, more harmonics are generated. Thus when we play softly, we

tend to produce sound containing stronger fundamentals. (owever, below a

certain loudness, there may be insucient energy to excite the fundamental

and you might &ust excite some higher frequency traveling waves, somewhat

similar to the -autando in the violin *the inertia of the strings acts like the

#nger in the -autando+. Therefore, somewhere between and $$, there isan optimum strike force that maximi/es the fundamental. The damper pedal

also changes the timbre by allowing vibrations at the non'struck strings.

The tone or timbre can be controlled by the tuner by voicing the hammer or

by tuning di!erently. 0 harder hammer produces a more brilliant tone *larger


2/5

harmonic content+ and a hammer with a -at striking area produces a harsher

tone *more high frequency harmonics+. The tuner can change the stretch or

control the amount of detuning among the unisons. 1p to a point, larger

stretch tends to produce brighter music and insucient stretch can produce a

piano with unexciting sound. )hen detuned within the sympathetic vibration

frequency range, all strings of a note will be in perfect tune *vibrate at thesame frequency+, but will interact di!erently with each other. $or example,

the note can be made to "sing" which may be an after sound whose volume

wavers. 2o 3 strings are ever identical, so that the option of tuning identically

simply does not exist.

$inally, we come to the dicult question4 can you vary the tone of a single

note by controlling the downstroke5 ost of the arguments over tone control

center on the free -ight property of the hammer before it strikes the strings.

pponents *of single note tone control+ argue that, because the hammer is infree -ight, only its velocity matters and therefore tone is not controllable for a

note played at a speci#ed loudness. 6ut the assumption of free -ight has

never been proven, as we shall now see. ne factor a!ecting tone is the -ex

of the hammer shaft. $or a loud note, the shaft may be signi#cantly -exed as

the hammer is launched into free -ight. In that case, the hammer can have a

larger e!ective mass than its original mass when it hits the strings. This is

because the force, $, of the hammer on the strings, is given by $ 7 a where

is the mass of the hammer and a is its deceleration upon impact with the

strings. ositive -ex adds an extra force because, as the -ex recovers after

the &ack is released, it pushes the hammer forwards; when $ increases, it

doesn8t matter if or a increases, the e!ect is the same. (owever, a is more

dicult to measure than *for example you can easily simulate a larger by

using a heavier hammer+ so we usually say, in this case, that the "e!ective

mass" has increased, to make it easier to visuali/e the e!ect of the larger $

on how the strings respond. In reality, however, positive -ex increases a. $or

a note played staccato, the -ex may be negative by the time the hammer

strikes the strings, so that the tone di!erence between "deep" playing and

staccato may be considerable. These changes in e!ective mass will certainly

change the distribution of overtones and a!ect the tone we hear. 9ince the

shaft is not :< rigid, we know that there is always a #nite -ex. The only

question is whether it is sucient to a!ect tone as we hear it. It almostcertainly is because the hammer shaft is a relatively -exible piece of wood. If

this is true, then the tone of the lower notes, with the heavier hammers,

should be more controllable because the heavier hammers will cause a larger

-ex. 0lthough one might expect the -ex to be negligible because the hammer

is so light, the knuckle is very close to the hammer -ange bushing, creating a

tremendous leverage. The argument that the hammer is too light to induce


3/5


4/5

This information is also critical for the piano technician. It means that the

optimum hammer si/e is one which is suciently small so that -ex is /ero

somewhere around , but suciently large so that -ex is signi#cant starting

around mf. This is a very clever mechanical arrangement that allows the use

of relatively small hammers that enable rapid repetitions and can still

transmit a maximum amount of energy to the strings. It means that it is amistake to go to larger hammers to produce more sound because you will

lose repetition speed and tone control. The existence of hammer shank -ex is

now well known *"$ive >ectures on the 0coustics of the iano"+.

%an the di!erence in tone of a single note be heard on the piano by playing

&ust one note5 1sually not; most people are not sensitive enough to hear this

di!erence with most pianos. ?ou will need a 9teinway 6 or better piano, and

you may start to hear this di!erence *if you test this with several pianos of

progressively higher quality+ with the lower notes. (owever, when actualmusic is played, the human ear is ama/ingly sensitive to how the hammer

impacts the strings, and the di!erence in tone can be easily heard. This is

similar to tuning4 most people *including most pianists+ will be hard pressed

to hear the di!erence between a super tuning and an ordinary tuning by

playing single notes or even testing intervals. (owever, practically any

pianist can hear the di!erence in tuning quality by playing a piece of their

favorite music. ?ou can demonstrate this yourself. lay an easy piece twice, in

an identical way except for touch. $irst, play with arm weight and "pressing

deeply" into the piano, making sure that the key drop accelerates all the way

down *correct basic keystroke+. Then compare this to the music when you

press shallowly so that there is complete key drop, but there is no

acceleration at the bottom. ?ou may need to practice a little to make sure

that the #rst time is not louder than the second. ?ou should hear an inferior

tone quality for the second mode of play. In the hands of great pianists, this

di!erence can be quite large. f course, we discussed above that tone is

controlled most strongly by how you play successive notes, so that playing

music to test the e!ect of single notes is clearly not the best way. (owever, it

is the most sensitive test.

ianissimo4 )e saw that for , you need an accurate basic key stroke, and

rapid relaxation. $eeling the keys with the pads of the #ngers is important. In

general, you should always practice with a soft touch until the passage is

mastered, then add mf or $$ or whatever is needed, because playing with a

soft touch is the most dicult skill to develop. There is no acceleration of the

downstroke and no hammer shank -ex, but the backcheck must be controlled

*key down and held+. (owever, the most important factors for are proper


5/5

regulation *especially minimum let'o!, hammer voicing, and correct hammer

weight+. Trying to cultivate technique without proper piano maintenance

is futile. In an emergency *during a performance with unsatisfactory piano+

you might try the soft pedal with an upright or partial soft pedal with a grand.

is dicult on most digitals because the key action is inferior and

deteriorates quickly after about @ years of use. 6ut an acoustic that was notmaintained can be much worse.

$ortissimo is a matter of transferring weight into the piano. This means body

leaning forward so that the center of gravity is closer to the keyboard and

playing from the shoulders. Ao not use only hands or arms for $$. 0gain,

relaxation is important so that you do not waste energy, you enable

maximum downstroke speed, and the proper force can be directed only

where it is needed. $or a passage to be played $$, practice without the $$

until the passage is mastered, then add $$.

In summary, tone is primarily a result of uniformity and control of playing and

depends on the musical sensitivity of the player. Tone control is a complex

issue involving every factor that changes the nature of the sound and we

have seen that there are many ways to change the piano sound. It all starts

with how the piano is regulated. Bach pianist can control the tone by

numerous means, such as by playing loudly or softly, or by varying the

speed. $or example, by playing louder and faster, we can produce music

consisting mainly of the prompt sound; conversely, a slower and softer playwill produce a subdued e!ect, using more after sound. 0nd there are

innumerable ways in which to incorporate the pedal into your playing. )e

saw that the tone of a single note can be controlled because the hammer

shank has -ex. The large number of variables ensures that every pianist will

produce a di!erent tone.

http4CCwww.pianofundamentals.comCbookCenC:.III.:.:.3
http://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/1.III.1.1.2http://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/1.III.1.1.2

Documents

Tone: Single versus Multiple Notes