Piano Acoustics Information

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Piano acoustics is the study of how acoustics can be used enhance certain aspects of the piano. When learning to play the piano, it is important to understand its basic properties.

The strings on a piano may vary with thickness. Bass strings are typically more bulky than the treble strings. The highest treble strings tend to be 1/30 inches, while the smallest would be around 1/3 inches. It has been demonstrated that when all strings are equal in thickness and flexed, the longest strings vibrate nearly one octave lower than the others.

Despite this, most piano designers build them so that the strings for low notes are gradually thicker. Pianos with long strings are considered to be the most attractive. When building a piano, designers try to place the longest strings possible within the case.

When purchasing a piano, you want to buy the largest one possible with your available budget and space. The desire of piano players for having an instrument with long strings is called inharmonicity. When a piano player strikes the string, the string vibrates at its own pitch along with additional overtones. The lowest overtone which can be reached is one octave above the fundamental frequency.

The piano gets its rich resonance from the strings vibrating sympathetically at times when they are not covered by any type of damper. When the piano is being played, the overtones often do not perfectly match the musical notes. The thickness of the string related to its length will cause it to move away from the fundamental frequency.

Inharmonicity is dependent on the length of the string. Longer strings better calculate the abstract strings, and will vibrate better with musical notes. Cheaper pianos use shorter strings and the largest keys often produce no notes. Instead they will produce a more percussive sound.

The pianos which are prized the most are those with the longest strings. The lowest strings in the piano are often made of steel which is wrapped in copper. By wrapping the strings this way, the necessary thickness is added to the string while lowering the hardness.

When learning to play the piano, it is important to understand the underlying principles behind its design. Understanding piano acoustics is one of the first steps to learning how to play the piano, and mastering it. Those who design pianos want to understand piano acoustics so that they can design better pianos which are highly prized.