Mark Knezevic says:

>How exactly does a pianist control tone when he or she plays the piano? I
>have thought for a long time that it had more to do with the piano than the
>player but recent reading has made me think otherwise.  Well of course the
>instrument makes a difference, but the player can control tone? I don't see
>all that well how that is possible seeing as it is the hammer that hits the
>string.  Is it then how the pianist hits the note which controls the
>hammer?

I don't really know either, since my piano-playing skills haven't yet
achieved the level of rudimentary.  However, this is something which I've
heard with my own ears during a lifetime of acquaintance with pianists,
many of them playing the same piano, and I've picked up the following.

First, each key on a piano has an extraordinary number of moving parts.
One key to one set of strings is an engineering feat in itself.  This
allows for a great variety of "strikes" from the hammer and an amazing
sensitivity of the mechanism to the way the finger strikes the key.
Second, the Russian school of piano playing has catalogued many of the
ways each finger (and thumb) can strike a key.  It makes a difference
which finger contacts the key and how.  Third, line makes a difference.
To some extent this comes under the heading of pedal technique, but even
more important, to my way of thinking, is how "connectedly" the pianist
moves from one note to the next.  I've heard pianists play a great legato
line with no pedal at all.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a piano piece for a fellow list member, the
late Chuck Long, to play.  Fortunately, he was an adult just beginning or
I wouldn't have had the nerve to write anything.  I figured I could do at
least as well as the pedagogy books.  After Chuck died, a memorial concert
was held, and a real pianist, Daniel Paul Horn (who actually met Chuck
face-to-face and who posts far too rarely), played, including my little
piece.  Dan finally made a tape, which I heard.  Now, I thought little
enough of that piece when I played it, but a real pianist made it sound far
better than I had heard it in my own head.  I realized that his technique
opened up a range of choices simply unavailable and mostly inconceivable
to me.

However, there are undoubtedly others on this list who can tell you what's
going on in even greater detail.

Steve Schwartz