You might also add in that for louder levels of play the key actually bottoms out before the hammer hits the string. The end point condition for key travel then becomes significant in terms of how much energy it absorbs or not. The action has a certain catapult affect here with whatever stored energy in the system wanting release as soon as possible. I wont get into whether any of that can or cant be released in time as that discussion has been backed and forthed a few times already. But I will sign under that the effect is obvious from the standpoint of what the fingers feel and ears percieve when changing the type of punchings. Also, as Andre pointed out. A well regulated instrument is necessary to get this far in the first place. An action that is not well regulated disperses much of the energy around in various forms of waste to begin with yes... ? Cheers RicB Hi Jason. I agree with your thoughts about the importance on the sound of the = pianist's feel at the fingertips. But there is another thing that is easy to experiment : the influence of = the thump of the key landing on the keyframe on the final sound of the = note being played. More than that, not only the sound of the very thump = here mentionned, but also the way this impulsion feeds back to all the = strings via the keybed, the rim, the soundboard and the bridge, and = gives extra energy to the vibration of the string and the whole acoustic = machine, and mixes up with the thump of the hammer and hammer shank at = hammer-string contact time. You can easily isolate that thump by = removing a hammer from the hammer rail and playing the corresponding = note (with the action in the piano) : the key knocking sound you hear = (emphasized very much if you depress the demper pedal) is really part of = the overall sound. Now, change the punching, the sound will change = accordingly. What is magic is how the final acoustic result of some = blends of impulsions make you feel good, while other (only slightly = different) blends, not so. What I found great at Andr=E9's punchings is that they have exactly the = right firmness : harder ones tend to make a disagreable thump (tac tac = tac) in the trebble, and softer ones won't give you the nice end of dip = feeling (and regulation), and will absorb more of the energy of the key = thump. Best regards. St=E9phane Collin.
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