What Makes the Piano Unique? by Kendall Ross Bean
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What makes the piano unique? What is it really all about?
The name piano is actually short for pianoforte, which in Italian means "soft-loud." Names are, in one way or another, usually descriptive of an object's unique characteristics, and the piano is no exception. Our task here is to try and explain why the piano is special or different from other instruments, because if you are not aware of why, and don't know how to make the most of the piano's unique qualities, you might just as well be playing the accordion or some other instrument.
Before the piano was invented there were keyboard instruments that could, indeed, play many notes at the same time, but generally only at one volume level, and without offering the player much control over dynamics (i.e. loudness or softness). The piano was unique among instruments in its class because, with it's invention, a performer could now not only play many notes simultaneously, but also had instantaneous and (at least theoretically) infinite control over the dynamics of those notes. Unlike with the harpsichord or the organ (the piano's most immediate predecessors), a performer could now play a chord, or a melody or succession of notes with each individual note having its own level of loudness or softness. This introduced a whole new realm of expressive possibilities. In modern times we have become accustomed to hearing music this way and pretty much take it for granted, but at the time it was like going from black and white to color TV.
Someone accustomed to playing the harpsichord or the organ, or an inexpensive electronic keyboard, and who is not specifically trained in how to play the piano, will often play the piano at only one volume level, or will not pay much attention to dynamics. With the organ, for example, no matter how you strike the key, it will still play at the same volume level, so there is really little motivation for the organist to be concerned about how much pressure or force they use on the keys, so long as the notes sound. The same is true of harpsichords and also many less expensive electronic keyboards and synthesizers available today.
No doubt you have heard someone artlessly banging away on a piano in a cheap bar or restaurant, or someone unskilled in public speaking giving an address in a boring, monotonous voice. The ability to give individual and contrasting expression, articulation or inflection to each note or syllable is as important to piano playing as it is to speech or singing.
If a keyboard is capable of playing loudly or softly according to how the key is depressed, it is called "touch-sensitive." Pianos are touch -sensitive instruments, and in general, the better the quality of the piano, the greater the the touch-sensitivity, and the greater the range of expressive possibilities. The control of dynamics in a piano is in the keys themselves, and it does take a fair degree of skill and practice to be able to gauge how much pressure it will take to play a note at a given volume. But once this is mastered, it is readily apparent why the piano is regarded as having such "immediacy" -everything is right there, at your fingertips.
Incidentally, the amount of pressure required to sound a note a certain way varies from piano to piano, hence many pianists like to spend some time getting acquainted with a new or unfamiliar instrument before giving a concert on it. Unlike many other instrumentalists, pianists usually do not carry their own piano around with them, so having to become accustomed to all sorts of different pianos comes with the territory.
Have you ever listened to a classical music station in the car, and noticed that you had to keep adjusting the volume control in order to hear the soft passages above the road noise? In many ways we have become accustomed to hearing music at one volume level because most radio and television stations, and also recording studios where the music is initially recorded, "compress" the music in order to provide a consistent volume level that can be heard above background noise. This compression is like an automatic loudness control that boosts the soft passages of music or speech to make them close to or the same level as the loud passages. This has both good and bad points. Good, because we can hear everything being played. Bad, because in a very significant way (like with commercials), it's all the same.
Classical radio stations do not generally compress their music (at least, not anywhere near as much as other radio stations) because it would compromise an important quality of the music, mainly the dynamics (or loudness and softness). They consider the compressing or processing of this kind of music a little like taking a fine sharp Cheddar or natural Gruyere and turning it into "processed cheese", which may have some of the characteristics of the original product but ultimately turns out sort of flat and tasteless. In the same way, you can play the piano in sort of a flat way, as many people, even some reputedly renowned recording stars, do, or you can truly take advantage of the piano's expressive powers.
So on "regular" radio stations, how do we discern between the loud and soft passages? The answer lies in something called timbre (pronounced tam-ber). For as, say, a vocalist sings more loudly, it is not only the volume of the sound that changes, but it's character. It may become brighter, have richer harmonics, become more shrill, a number of different things. This is what we mean when we say the timbre of the tone changes. People listening to the radio these days have become accustomed to taking their volume cues from the timbre changes, as the volume changes are really not there so much anymore. A lot depends on the station's engineer and how they choose to set the compression controls.
In the same way, a good piano will have a wide variety of timbre changes as the volume of a note changes from soft to loud. One problem with the first digital pianos was that the designers had not taken timbre changes into consideration. As you played a note with increasing pressure on these early electronic instruments, it would get louder, but there was no change in timbre, so the tone still sounded flat and artificial. Most digital pianos still have this problem to some extent.
As with any instrument, there are some things the piano cannot do. Unlike say, the human voice, or a bowed instrument, the piano cannot increase, or even sustain the volume on a note once it is sounded. Every note begins to "die" the moment it is born. This quality, however, is both a liability and an asset: it is a peculiar, and at times, hauntingly beautiful characteristic that gives the piano it's unique sound.
At the same time, however, notes played on the piano do not die immediately, and will continue to sound for several seconds. In a piano, the sound is started, when the key is depressed, by a felt covered hammer striking a string (It's called a string but it's actually a wire, made of metal) The sound is stopped by another piece of felt (called a damper) coming back in contact with the string when the key is released. The rightmost or sustain pedal, often erroneously called the "loud" pedal, lifts all the dampers at once, so that all the strings are free to ring. Its judicious use can help you sustain certain notes when you have to lift your fingers in order to play other notes. Like charity, the pedal is also often used to cover a multitude of sins (or sloppy technique).
A lot depends on where you're coming from. If you have not played any instrument before attempting the piano, of course, everything will be new. If you have played stringed instruments like the violin or viola, you will probably find that the piano gives you similar expressive control over notes, and you will be pleasantly surprised to find you don't have to worry about intonation anymore. The only person who now has any control over that is the piano tuner.