Piano compromise
Jemimah enjoying an authentic experience
Pianos are funny old things. There I said it…they are. They just seem to fall on the wrong side of the digital divide.
Invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1700 in Tuscany, Italy; two hundred and thirty metal strings, usually inside a wooden case, stretched over a thin piece of spruce, with each string attached to a metal frame that withstands 20 tonnes of downward pressure; an instrument that doesn’t like the heat, the cold, the humidity, being moved or not being tuned for many years…I mean…who would have one?
And yet…
As the largest Japanese musical instrument manufacturers have discovered, the sound of this instrument is impossible to authentically recreate or simulate digitally. It produces a tone and timbre that can bring a grown woman to tears if played competently and with expression. Even today when sales have dwindled in comparison to the hey-day of the piano in the early and middle parts of the twentieth century, it is still the choice of millions of musicians over its digital counterparts, and parents are still acquiring this instrument so that little Barnaby and Jemimah can be introduced to the art of making music.
Here is the compromise. A digital piano is a digital piano is a digital piano. Static. Pianos are the most authentic of musical machines with twenty thousand moving parts and yes they wear out; more moving parts than a car. And just like a car they need maintenance. Another of these authentic instruments would definitely be the Violin and it is well documented that a Stradivarius gets better and more valuable with age. Unfortunately this is not the case with the piano. In addition they are much more difficult to tune than a violin. Indeed there are very few pianists; even the most accomplished, who would attempt piano tuning for themselves. Training of the ear is required for many months, sometimes years to accomplish the task and so a specialist is required. Today software is used as an addition to the piano tuning process but even then a trained ear is required to finish the job to a concert standard. Software, tools and fuel are expensive and the reality is specialists expect to be paid.
I’ll say one thing for digital pianos…
I’ve never had to tune one.
And for that reason I will never own one.