Pianoforte Touch

Abstract

I HAVE been very much interested in Prof. Bryan's article on pianoforte touch in NATURE of May 8. There is, of course, no question with anyone who is a pianist that dynamic differences of touch produce enormous differences of quality in the tones of a well-made pianoforte. My own observations in the matter do not go very far, but, amongst other things, it has seemed to me that two things are important: (1) the harmonics of a note have always seemed to me to be most prominent when the note has been produced by the least possible “hit” by the fingers, in fact, when the note is practically produced by pressure alone. Pressure alone is, of course, unable to produce a note, and a certain fractional hit is always necessary to give the hammer the necessary momentum.