orinoco
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response 15 of 19:
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Apr 25 17:40 UTC 2002 |
Re #11: Only if by "percussive" you mean "loud and bangy." As Lumen's
pointed out, there's some nice quiet contemplative percussion music out there.
It still sounds like percussion; nobody would mistake it for a brass quintet
or a pipe organ. And good piano music -- even Chopin -- is the same way.
Uhm, what am I trying to say here?
In music for strings or winds, you can get by with a nice sustained melody
and good tone color and intonation. On a piano, that's not enough -- the
tuning's fixed, there's not much sustain, and the tone color's pretty
constant. Piano music, as a rule, relies more on rhythm and figuration than
wind or string music -- and you can't tell me that's not true of Chopin and
Prokofiev both.
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jaklumen
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response 17 of 19:
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Apr 28 08:49 UTC 2002 |
resp:14 My error. And yes, I should have remembered-- Bach's "Well-
Tempered Clavier" was a demonstrational composition that promoted
tempered intonation.
resp:15 As Dan pointed out, yes, the piano has some limitations due
to its mechanics. Stringed instruments sacrifice some precision in
intonation, which musicians often compensate for in vibrato and quick
corrections. The famed violinist Iztak Perlman noted that he indeed
made many mistakes in playing, but he was just very good at correcting
them quickly (i.e., shift to correct). Fretted instruments
(mandolins, lutes, guitars) sound a little different, but there is
still tactile contact with the string, which allows some flexibility
(glissando, vibrato, harmonics techniques).
Granted, the piano has three pedals to further manipulate the strings:
the damper pedal, the sostenuto pedal, and the sustain pedal. This
second pedal sustains any notes held when the pedal is hit, but not
the ones played afterward. It's good for sustaining bass lines
comprised of chords or single notes when you want to keep the melody
clean.
However, this is still limited in comparison, unless you get around
the hammers by plucking and strumming the strings hands-on. Some
examples of compositions where this is required is Interlude VII (on
_Fresh Aire III_) by Louis "Chip" Davis Jr., and Banshee by Eugene
Bazaa. The sound is eerie and ethereal. The strings cannot be
further manipulated, however.
You can coax out some shading and nuance through the action of the
keys, but again, this is extremely limited. Keyboard instruments that
have more options generally rely on stops (which I believe is solely
the organ these days) or digital technology.
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