Psychoacoustics and piano

Hi Francesco. It is my firm belief that acoustic aspects act on the pianist's psychological perception almost entirely. One is led to generate a sound image that we have in our heads. If there are no acoustic conditions that guarantee the success of this pianistic goal, the pianist struggles greatly and the result is chasing an unreachable idea due to acoustic factors. Naturally, this can stem from a piano that is not up to the task (because it is poorly prepared, out of tune, or simply of poor quality) and from the hall (too dry, too reverberant, amplifying certain frequencies, or causing certain objects to vibrate). The closer the environment and instrument approach that idea of sound, the more confidence the pianist will receive and the more they can concentrate on other aspects of sound production (touch and searching for depth/attack) and interpretation.

In fact, as Simone well says, it is a complex situation. In the past, I had already launched a study project called "pianoexpert" that took into account the "overall image of the piano sound". Perhaps I will make a short video on the subject that invites returning to the "essence", to the "whole", to reach the goal through an interdependence of technical-acoustic choices. The "image" is what "we have in our heads" and want to achieve. And sometimes the real conditions of the sound create an image far from what we expect. The approximation between the two realities must be pursued and chased by optimizing the quality of the instrument, its preparation, the listening environment conditions, etc... all elements that influence the psychoacoustic attitude of the pianist. Even Benedetti Michelangeli, accused of being manic, wanted nothing more than to eliminate as much as possible everything that "polluted" this image of his piano sound. Together with his excellent technical-musical qualities, he managed, in our opinion—the public's, often or almost always—to achieve excellent performances... according to him, not so often. Only rarely. Once, after performing the four Brahms Ballades in concert during the first half... he did not come out for the second half. According to him, he could not have given a better performance. The "image" of the execution in the first half had evidently finally reached what he had in his head. In this rare case of his, the two images were very close, perhaps even coincident.

I conclude by leaving a reflection on which I will speak more in detail in the video: The "WHOLE" is not "THE SUM OF THE PARTS"........