adjusting to different pianos?

[david456103]

Hi guys,
I was wondering how exactly pianists adjust to different pianos. I dont have problems with it, but since all pianos have different key sizes, wouldn't it be sometimes impossible to rely on your muscle memory? Even if you don't rely completely on muscle memory, wouldn't it be impossible not to miss a few notes in a performance on a completely new piano?

[hardy_practice]

Should be like driving a different car - you get used to it and don't really notice after a little while.

[richard black]

All modern pianos actually have keys the same size, and have done since the mid-19th century. True, some pianos have slightly shorter keys, front to back, but that doesn't matter enormously since most of the time we never use the bit closest to the fall board.

But actually it's surprisingly easy to adjust to the narrower keys of fortepianos and harpsichords.

[iansinclair]

Fortunately all modern pianos -- and all modern organs -- have exactly the same key spacings.  So it's not a problem.  As Richard noted, harpsichords and fortepianos do not; they have a narrower spacing (although it is uniform among all of them), but getting used to it isn't that hard.  Oddly, most historic organs have key spacings very like, if not quite exactly like, modern pianos (I played an instrument from Bach's time a few years back) -- it was needed to allow room for the action.

[j_menz]

For pianos, the keys are all the same size. What varies is the touch weight, the touch response curve, and various tonal and resonance qualities. You get used to that by listening, and by playing on a number of different instruments.

Some pianos also have slightly shorter keyboards, which can be problematic. And they may have different faults (sticking keys, loose keys, loose ivories etc.) That's harder to get used to, but isn't a problem if you only hang around classy joints. 

[david456103]

thanks for the responses everyone!
just wondering, then, are the heights of the black keys above the white keys also constant for all modern pianos?

[j_menz]

Close, but not quite. They also have slightly different shapes and textures, which is more of an issue IMO.

[david456103]

yeah, i noticed that they were very slightly higher on non-grand pianos(baby grands, uprights) than on grands.

[david456103]

@j_menz: does the difference affect playing?

[iansinclair]

@j_menz: does the difference affect playing?

For me, at least, it does -- briefly.  It usually takes only one or two warmups to get used to -- but sitting down at a piano the make of which you are not accustomed to and sailing off into a performance can be... disconcerting.

Faults, though, are another matter -- particularly sticky keys, or keys with delayed or non-existent repetition.  They can throw me off quite completely (curiously, more in works I know well than in works I am practicing or sight-reading.  Don't know why).

[david456103]

unfortunately, in competitions you are expected to sit down at the piano and begin playing immediately   but the weird thing is, i've never had any trouble adjusting to competition pianos(which are usually high quality grands). is there a competition-standard piano or something??

[j_menz]

No, although competitions should at least have pianos that avoid the faults I mentioned.  Many of them do allow you to have a warm up on the piano, either on the day or beforehand. If not, I would recommend you start with something that doesn't rely heavily on a fine touch for its quality.  How long it takes to adjust depends on how used you are to adjusting and the magnitude of the difference.  That said, even if you had practiced on that exact same piano in a smaller room there would still be an adjustment needed due to the new acoustic environment.

[david456103]

i tend to not have trouble adjusting to tone quality/sound, since all competition pianos(and basically all good grands) are significantly easier to play on than my baby grand at home.
but yeah i agree with you about the room size issue.
as far as i know, some competitions i'm doing next year allow for warm-up, just not necessarily on the piano that will be used.
but does the key height difference affect technique/cleanness of playing??

[j_menz]

but does the key height difference affect technique/cleanness of playing??

I've never noticed it to be a problem, but I wouldn't swear that that was true of everyone. It's not that big a difference, and you'd probably have other issues if it interfered.

[david456103]

any other thoughts?

[karenvcruz]

Hello david456103

Thanks for opening this thread.  i also for awhile believed that the pianos have different keyboard sizes (more the while keys rather than the black).  I am glad to see that they are the same and it would more the touch, heaviness, etc that would be different.

I am preparing for a recital this November so I also am trying to adjust and am worried that on the day itself, I might find using a different piano odd.  I own an old Yamaha spinet (one of the first models) and it is still in good condition.  However, I decided to also practice in different pianos every week,  So I would go to the school of music where my teacher teaches so I have a chance at the upright pianos.  Then, I asked a friend who works in one of our larger government agencies, since they have a museum, if I can drop by at least once a week to practice using their grand pianos.  they have at least two, so just to give me exposure to playing a grand piano.  the first time I tried it, I got tired be ause I noticed the grand piano I tried seemed heavier.  But  I noticed that as I kept practicing using different
Pianos, I seem to be able to better adjust.

I needed to do warm-up exercises though to get a feel.  Perhaps, exposure to different types of piano may help you as it is helping me.  I did observe one consistenct though-  I needed to look for Yamaha and not any other brand.  At least, I would have a better feel.

[richard black]

The more pianos you play as your life goes on, the easier it becomes to sit down and just play anything remotely piano-shaped. Sure, you get the odd surprise but I know I can do a decent job on any working piano after about the first 10-20 seconds. I play dozens of them in a typical week.

By the way, key size isn't _exactly_ consistent. I got 5mm difference over the whole keyboard when I sampled a few pianos (from 1889 to 2010) with a tape measure. That's 5mm over about 1750mm, so not really a big deal. 0.7mm per octave, in other words.

[david456103]

well if you have to make big leaps(that span maybe 3 octaves), it will make a difference...im assuming that modern pianos are all the same size then, since the one you pointed out was from 1889??

[david456103]

any other thoughts?