Difficulty of playing

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Game severity (also: game weight, key weight, low weight, low pressure gravity, low-pressure weight) referred to in piano the weight force that is required to allow for off-hook damping slowly up to the overcoming of a button (i.e., when depressing the right pedal..) Triggering resistor moved downward and in the static Balance is located. The difficulty of the game can be changed by turning off the key (i.e. by balancing with lead weights).

In the case of electronic keyboard instruments, one speaks of weighted keys , provided that the typical piano playing difficulty is simulated by small weights ("half-weighted" or "lightly weighted ") and / or a separate mechanism ("fully weighted").

Difficulty of play must not be confused with type of game or even attack . The term playing difficulty is rejected by some piano makers (they prefer low pressure difficulty) because it is primarily not about playing, but about the static balance of the mechanics. The playing difficulty is usually the same for all keys of an instrument. Depending on the manufacturer and the instrument, it is between 47 and 55 grams . Since the difficulty of playing is actually about a force , it is given in newer textbooks in the unit of measurement Newton (N) . The older literature and partly modern practically oriented literature used for convenience, yet the unit grams , so actually the mass is called; 50 grams correspond to about 0.5 N in the earth's gravitational field .

In addition to this static playing weight, there is also the dynamic playing weight : In addition to the static, it also describes the other forces that are required to accelerate the various masses of the parts of the piano mechanics so that sounds are generated by the impact of the hammer on the string. The faster the key is moved while playing, the more the player feels the inertia of the crowd. When comparing playing a fast sequence of notes (e.g. trills) in the bass (heaviest hammers) and treble (lightest hammers), the differences in the dynamic playing weight are also clearly noticeable for the player.

A third weight is the weight of the key: It is the force that brings the key back to its original position (rest position) after it has been hit. This force is about half the weight of the game that brings the key down.


literature

  • Josef Goebel: Basics of modern piano construction . 4th, revised edition. Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig 1952.
  • Herbert Junghans: The piano and grand piano (= The Musical Instrument , Volume 4), 7th, improved and significantly expanded edition, edited and supplemented by HK Herzog. Collaborators: Klaus Fenner, Otto Funke et al. Verlag Erwin Bochinski, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-923639-90-2 .
  • Klaus Fenner / Jan Großbach: Practical manual of piano construction (= The musical instrument , Volume 75). Erwin Bochinsky publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 978-3-923639-39-7 .
  • Hans-Jürgen Uchdorf: Practical manual piano . Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig 1985.
  • Carl-Johan Forss: The regulation of piano and grand piano mechanisms (= the musical instrument , volume 85). PPVMedien, Edition Bochinski, Bergkirchen 2004, ISBN 3-932275-82-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter Pfeiffer: From the hammer. Investigations from a branch of grand piano and piano construction . (= The Musical Instrument , Volume 9). Verlag Das Musikinstrument, Frankfurt am Main 1979, ISBN 3-920112-14-8 . P. 131.
  2. ↑ Exception: Steinway & Sons uses the B-211, C-227 and D-274 grand piano models in the individual sections (Choir 1–13, Choir 14–25, Choir 26–49, Choir 50–61, Choir 62 –88) graduated play levels between 52 and 47 grams. See: Max Matthias: Steinway Service Manual. Guide to maintaining a Steinway (= The Musical Instrument , Volume 49). 2nd revised and expanded edition. Erwin Bochinsky publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-923639-15-5 . P. 28.
  3. ↑ Grand pianos and grand pianos 6. Accessed March 6, 2019 .