Up to what degree does a pianist control sound in his instrument?

[Junggai]

Well alright, there is a tiny difference in the hammer motion at the time of contact with the string: now the question is how it affects the resulting sound. This should be measured with instruments. Is the differerence so big that the human ear can detect it? From the same page:


Be it as it may be, you would agree that in wind and bowed string instruments there is much greater control over timbre than in the piano. Maybe there will come somebody saying that in the pipe organ the player can control timbre by means of the touch!

1) You're quite right that the resulting sound still needs to be measured scientifically. (Although please don't load your language here: "tiny" is not the word the researchers used to describe the difference in hammer motion; the accompanying diagrams also look dramatically different.)

2) Remember that in most piano music we're not just dealing with single notes, rather whole combinations. So even a subtle difference in the touch of single notes, aggregated into melodies and chords, can make a huge difference in a pianist's overall sound. Again, this is not counting dynamic control and balance when multiple notes and chords are played.

I think Chang summarizes this well (p. 68):

"Can the difference in tone of a single note be heard on the piano by playing only one note? Usually not; most people are not sensitive enough to hear this difference with most pianos. You will need a Steinway B or better piano, and you may start to hear this difference (if you test this with several pianos of progressively higher quality) with the lower notes. However, when actual music is played, the human ear is amazingly sensitive to how the hammer impacts the strings, and the difference in tone can be easily heard. This is similar to tuning: most people (including most pianists) will be hard pressed to hear the difference between a super tuning and an ordinary tuning by playing single notes or even testing intervals. However, practically any pianist can hear the difference in tuning quality by playing a piece of their favorite music. You can demonstrate this yourself. Play an easy piece twice, in an identical way except for touch."