Beautiful sound

[ilpianist]

Hi all,

I was wandering what do you think is a beautiful sound?

[classicarts]

You know, I wonder that too sometimes.   There are so many variables to that definition or description.  For the most part, everyone would have a different opinion.    And I guess that's why there are so many brands of pianos out there.

[bernhard]

“Beautiful” is a verbal (linguistic) label for some sort of inner state.

Any sound that elicits that inner state will be called “beautiful”.

What few people seem to realise (and even fewer accept), is that there is no such a thing as a “beautiful”sound, that is, “beautiful” is not a quality of the sound but an inner state we experience. It would be more correct o say: when I listen to that particular sound, I feel an inner experience I call “beautiful”

Of course, there is no guarantee that the same sound will elicit the same experience on another person, even if that person also calls the sound “beautiful”, because there is no way to compare inner experiences.

But language (that is, both persons calling an inner experience that may be vastly different by the same adjective) brings with its usage the delusion of uniformity ot experience.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[alzado]

Well, my piano makes beautiful sound.

I really think a very high percentage of grand pianos can sound wonderful when well played.

There's a "cabal" on this forum that tries to imply that if you don't have an $85,000 piano you can't get great sound.

WRONG.

Yamaha, Everett, Young Chang, Pearl River, Howard, Kawai, Baldwin  . . . .  all can sound good if wisely selected and well played.  And if the acoustics of the room does not suck.

Generally, if the piano is reasonably big (let's leave out the 4'10" and the like) almost any grand CAN make beautiful sound.

Of course, any manufacturer will make a few lemons.  Sound quality can vary to some degree.  But that can easily be exaggerated.

And probably the premier priced pianos do make arguably better tone quality.  For the outrageous prices, they SHOULD.

My $.02.

[pianorama]

“Beautiful” is a verbal (linguistic) label for some sort of inner state.

Any sound that elicits that inner state will be called “beautiful”.

What few people seem to realise (and even fewer accept), is that there is no such a thing as a “beautiful”sound, that is, “beautiful” is not a quality of the sound but an inner state we experience. It would be more correct o say: when I listen to that particular sound, I feel an inner experience I call “beautiful”

Of course, there is no guarantee that the same sound will elicit the same experience on another person, even if that person also calls the sound “beautiful”, because there is no way to compare inner experiences.

But language (that is, both persons calling an inner experience that may be vastly different by the same adjective) brings with its usage the delusion of uniformity ot experience.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Best wishes,
Bernhard

Well put!