Research question: If keytouch is a factor in the change of timbre when playing the piano.
Keytouch, the way performers press the key, is a essential part of piano performance. However, most of the research on keytouch is purely subjective, and there are controversies about the role keytouch plays in creating different sound effects. This paper focuses on two different kinds of keytouch and uses quantitative method, mainly spectral analysis, to discuss whether keytouch can have a noticeable influence on the piano’s timbre. The study finally reveals that the keytouch is a salient factor in the change of piano’s timbre. This paper is divided into three different parts. In the first part, namely the introduction, some of the famous arguments on this issue and results from previous studies are presented. Some relevant background information is also…show more content… One is free hammer flight, which can occur when you are pressing the key. There is a time when the hammer is no longer pushed by the lever system, the hammer will leave it and fly to the string propelled by the initial velocity provided by the action, which means people cannot control the hammer when it hits the string. That is where the idea of FHV comes from. Our control of the hammer ends when it leaves the pusher, so what people can decide is only the initial velocity of free hammer flight. Second is the motion of damper. Strings can be controlled by the hammer and damper. When the key is being pressed, the damper will leave the string and let the string vibrate itself. When the key is released, the damper will press against the string and stop the free vibration. The piano was designed to let the damper leave the string before the hammer hits the string, while you are pressing a key. It is because of this that the experiment was designed so as to press the key continuously when the sound has been made. In this way, the damper cannot