Tone Production by the Pianist

[Ron Nossaman]

John Dorr wrote:
> In your experience and philosophy can different pianists create 
> different tones on the same piano, at the same volume (velocity of the 
> hammer striking the strings) with different touch techniques?  It seems 
> to me that the player always throws the SAME weight at the SAME target 
> and doesn't have a direct connection with the string at the moment of 
> impact, so would therefore have no control over what the tone generated 
> by the instrument is, except and unless they could somehow control the 
> checking point of the hammer so that it influenced a very small part of 
> the acoustics.  Shouldn't MY (drummer's touch!) mezzo-forte middle C 
> sound exactly like Chick Corea's on the same instrument?
> 
> I ask because I have a piano teacher friend who insists that SHE and her 
> students are ultimately in charge of tone.  And when I ask her to 
> demonstrate, she really can't.  She just plays louder or softer on her 
> Steinway.  Sure, the tone changes with volume, but she can't prove to me 
> that she's capable of tone change at the SAME volumes.  She holds her 
> ground, though, and says, "Well I can't do it right now, but I know that 
> sometimes when I play I can make it SO BEAUTIFUL, and other times..." 
> and goes on to say that it has to do with the "love" she inputs to the 
> keys.  I responded that I thought it was her emotional attachment to the 
> music at the moment and the voicings her fingers were able to  respond 
> with, by which I mean each individual finger is capable of its own 
> velocity (and therefore TONE character) that expresses the music 
> according to her emotional interpretation.
> 
> Sorry to get so long-winded about it.  It's really a simple question, 
> isn't it?        Does the pianist have the ability to influence tone 
> character differences at the same dynamic level?  If so, can you explain 
> the physics of that?


I think Doug's got it here. Good pianists calibrate their technique 
and dynamics to the specific piano, on the specific day, at the 
specific time, to get the most from what the piano has to offer at 
that moment. Some are better at it than others. Some may not even 
realize that they are doing this, while others most certainly do, 
and don't consider it strange at all. Some require some time at the 
specific piano to work this out, but some frightening souls can do 
it in real time coming to an unfamiliar instrument and calibrating 
on the fly in moments, seemingly effortlessly. I don't much like the 
notion that the pianists is controlling the piano's tone, because 
she isn't. She's using what's there. The tone is inherent to the 
individual instrument, like an artist's palette, and the pianist can 
either use what's available to good effect, or fail to. A good 
artist can do amazing things with a limited palette, producing 
subjective impact that a poor artist can't come close to with a 
rainbow.

Ron N