Groven Piano Project

[theodopolis]

I was hoping that some members of this forum were aware of this project.

The Groven Piano Project
It is summed up in the term 'The Ivory Cage', referring to the limitations of the keyboard and it's division of the octave into twelve seperate tones, placing restrictions on the piano and other keyboard's ability to explore the lost regions of consonance and dissonance.

The Groven Piano is a way of playing three pianos each tuned slightly differently so that in fact, the pianist is in control of 264 keys rather than 88.
The way they are tuned is that one piano note is tuned to C-Sharp, whereas the corresponding note on the next piano is tuned to D-Flat, and the next is tuned to B-Double Sharp: All individual notes in their own right. If each note has three possibilities, then there are 36 notes to a scale rather than 12.
The three acoustic pianos are linked through a computer to a silenced keyboard and the computer solves the notes played on the keyboard in real-time to the appropriately tuned piano.

https://vms.cc.wmich.edu/~code/groven/

The website has some fascinating sound examples on the 'Compare Tunings' page.
I particularly enjoy the effect of the Grieg examples. The dissonance of the  Folk scale seventh degree sends shivers down my spine. The Hindemith, on the other hand, really highlights the perfect consonance not possible on the modern piano.

Thanks
Theodopolis

[pianonut]

very interesting!  that should open up a lot more compositional possibilities (and notational ones, too)  i'm already thinking (half black half white notehead for 1/2 tone - 1/4 notehead for 1/4 tone).  what do you think?