Free key return

Dear Andrea,

you are asking interesting questions that encompass other queries and insights. When a pianist, and it seems to me, in your case, a Maestro, asks these questions, an interest begins in the correlation between piano technique and the functioning of the instrument. One discovers some great things! On a poorly regulated, poorly tuned, and poorly voiced piano, no good student and/or mature pianist will be able to obtain good results. What can be said about the speed of the repeated notes in some Scarlatti sonatas or, indeed, the octaves in the "Marcia dei nani"? Everything could become tiring or impossible. Perhaps before a concert, we find the mechanical geometries with incorrect distances between components (all translated into immediate sensations of dissatisfaction) and we have to give up on some things that we had well prepared. It happened to me in Pisa... several years ago. Program: Appassionata, Debussy's Estampes, and Schubert's Wanderer. The "limited funds" Association had rented a small Yamaha....never regulated. Fortunately, at my insistence, a technician was called who turned out to be very good. At that time, I did not delve into piano technology......But I asked myself many questions!!! He immediately understood that I needed a reliable repetition (Appassionata), but also a sensitive search for colors in Debussy as well as achieving difficult series of octaves at the end of the first movement of the Wanderer.

You can listen to these live recordings in the AUDIO section on the first pages (my Beethoven, my Debussy, my Wanderer).

after a rehearsal I realized that I could and...had to take a risk, and if you listen to the final chords of Soirée dans Grenade, you will notice the three colors p pp and ppp with which I close the piece (thanks precisely to the regulation of the escapement very close to the string, consuming a certain moderate proportion of the spring).

Regarding the question you ask about the harmfulness of the continuous and robust functioning of the keyboard and the action, do not fear. No damage, except for the wearing down of the skins, felts, and hammers. Naturally, the instrument must be followed over time, tuned, voiced, and its regulation checked. In a grand piano, the depression and return of the key has a more real proportion expressed in a ratio. However, things are a bit more complex.....you can find all these concepts in my video tutorials that I posted on this site several years ago. "Journey Inside the Piano."

Good Music

Ok, thanks a lot! It was an apparently trivial question, but the more I reason—moving from practice to abstraction and vice versa—on technique (= pianist, therefore biophysics and physiology, particularly muscular) and on technology (= piano, therefore physics, particularly dynamics and acoustics), the more a lot of things come to mind that I hadn't noticed much before "just playing": for example, precisely the work of design and construction precision (in calculating the levers, and not just that), then the maintenance involved to ensure that the keys can "endure" all these stresses, even strong ones during playing, both in depression and in ascent*, without "giving way a single millimeter"! That is, to guarantee their mechanical resistance.

* In fact, one often thinks more about the acceleration of the keys in depression... but the ascent acceleration can also be done with a wide range of acceleration values, from small (controlling it with slow relaxation of the finger flexor muscles) to maximum (which coincides with the free ascent of the key, letting it go, "jumping up!" and thus returning with the finger to the level of the start of the key stroke [or slightly above in height] before the key itself reaches it again).

These are beautiful variations and beautiful stresses, in one direction and the other, to which we subject the poor keys every day!

Good morning... reading your comments, I wonder if this upward movement dynamic also influences the key perception in grand pianos compared to uprights.

In my opinion, a perfect regulation is fundamental to avoid transmitting anxiety during performance, especially in fast Scarlatti passages... :)

certainly. Right:

Good morning... regarding AJPiano's doubt, I believe that in upright pianos the sensation is different due to the spring mechanism used for the key return.

I don't know if this truly affects wear over time compared to a grand piano, but there is certainly a difference in tactile perception... especially in certain 20th-century pieces.

Well, the mechanics of the upright are aided by a series of springs. The perception is certainly different. This does not involve greater wear over time; on the contrary, perhaps in the bass, where everything happens more by gravity, the wear could be more pronounced. Over time, revising the regulation certainly keeps most of the parts' wear under control.

Good morning.

Reading your posts, I was wondering if this difference in return also influences the choice of fingerings in faster passages, especially when moving from a grand piano to an upright.

I believe that a more immediate key response allows for greater freedom in improvisation and dynamic control.

Well.. let's just say that a difficult keyboard and a poorly regulated and balanced mechanism significantly affect the "challenge" that the pianist undertakes to overcome the passage. In reality, one should "rely" on the piano and not "challenge" it, as my late friend Stefan Vertes from the Steinway House used to say, by trying to implement the most natural and "tension-free" fingerings and gestures possible. Precisely, the "freedom" of "gesture" you are talking about can only be achieved with the good functioning of the instrument. The weight of the key depression and the return of the key significantly influence whether or not this freedom is favored.

Good morning... I agree that tactile response plays a role, but I have the impression that fingering depends more on the established gesture than on the specific mechanics...
In the upright pianos I use, the return is a bit different, but you adapt immediately... perhaps I am wrong...

 The "consolidated gesture" can indeed be flawed by the poor functioning of the mechanics... anyway, one should not create an exclusive dependency on the negative or positive perception of the approach to the instrument. Of course. Anyway, let's just say that studying and growing on a piano that works well and sounds good .......is good for us ..... 😀

Since I started playing again as an adult after a break, I find that the difference is stark on digital pianos. Here, the springs often impose a faster return and

And maybe it's true... but it deviates too much from the acoustic piano... which is the pianist's real instrument

Good morning... I am reading these reflections on mechanics with interest, but I have a practical doubt that is blocking me... studying some fast passages by Scarlatti on an upright, I feel the key return is stiffer compared to a grand... is it just a matter of habit regarding the different weight and distance of the movement, or should I revise my fingerings to compensate?

I am listening... :)

one needs to see if it depends on some friction in the mechanical pins.......Anyway, on the bass end, the repetition is easier, provided the action is "healthy"!!!!!!

Good morning... I agree with what was said about digital pianos, where the return is often guided by springs or sensors that change the tactile perception compared to the mechanical weight of an upright piano...

Playing for a hobby, I find that the adaptation is rapid, but the difference in key resistance remains evident during fast passages... I don't know if this really affects technique in the long term...