Hello All: I remember a discussion in a convention voicing class about the phenomenon of "psychoacoustics." The contention of the teacher, whose name escapes me at the moment, is that what we hear influences what we think we are feeling as we play the piano. A very bright piano will be perceived by many as being "easier" to play, because it seems louder and therefore doesn't require as much effort from the pianist. Vice versa for a very mellow piano, where the pianist may have to play harder to get the piano to project. In both cases the pianist is not actually feeling the hammer itself, but is reacting to the kind of tone the piano is producing and is automatically and perhaps unconsciously adjusting his or her playing to compensate for what the instrument is not giving. Patrick Poulson, RPT
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