Voicing and What it Means for Your Piano

Pianists often express a preference for either a "mellow" or a "bright" sounding piano. You may hear your salesperson use these terms to describe what you hear, but what exactly do they mean? These terms describe a piano's "tone" or "voice."

Although all materials and components contribute to a piano's tone, hammers have the most immediate impact. The hammers consist of a wooden arm, or shank, which supports a felt-wrapped head that strikes a string when a key is depressed. The condition can affect the density and weight of the hammerhead.

The following factors can affect how hammers produce a piano's tone.

Fiber Density

The density of the hammerhead felt determines which harmonic frequencies we hear. When the felt fibers are densely packed, there are more surfaces through which sound waves pass, thus creating a bright and lively sound with a focus on overtones. With more loosely packed felt fibers, the sound waves travel further between the fibers, emphasizing warm and mellow fundamentals.

Key Strikes

When a hammerhead makes contact with a tightly wound metal string, it does so with enough force to press on the felt fibers and cause them to compress over time. The felt's density increases over time, leading to an increasing brighter tone than what the hammers originally produced.

The compression of the hammer felt is inevitable. Still, a skillful technician can open the space between the felt fibers with a process called needling, which encourages sound waves to produce warm fundamentals. If continuous contact with strings over time flattens the hammers' shape, too much of their surface area can connect with the strings, resulting in a harsh, brassy sound. Re-shaping the hammers with a gentle filing can address this issue and prolong their life.

A gentle, brightening of tone occurs naturally, so if your piano is slightly warmer than you would like when you first receive it, know that it will naturally brighten a bit with playing.

Humidity

Anyone who lives in places like New York or Houston may wonder why the bright-sounding piano they love often becomes timid when warm weather rolls around. Much of this personality change is due to humidity changes. When humidity rises, a porous hammerhead felt expands and absorbs microscopic amounts of moisture, but enough to open space between fibers that are usually densely packed. The effect is similar to that of needling brighter hammers. It increases tonal warmth by affecting the flow of sound waves with a change of emphasis from harmonics to fundamentals.

If you are looking for a piano that has a more extroverted personality, you prefer a bright sound. A piano's tone can be made more vivid by applying a thin layer of hardening lacquer to the hammers. This technique must be used with great care to avoid creating a brash tone. If

Room Characteristics

Have you ever wondered why your piano sounds different in your home than it did in the showroom? The difference does not mean that something is wrong. Instead, this suggests that your instrument's tone is reflecting its environment by emphasizing either harmonics or fundamentals. Your piano will sound different in a fully furnished room than it does in an empty one.

The best piano voicing is a matter of personal preference. Although a knowledgeable technician can nudge the tone one way or another, it is best to select a piano whose sound is not too far away from your liking. As you play your piano, the felt of its hammers may compress at different rates. Having your piano voiced periodically will help maintain its beautiful tone as you play throughout the keyboard.