Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner How do you make a piano sing like a violin??

I'm aiming for a gradual crescendo in a chord (pick a chord, any chord! lol) without having to re-press it. I need a lovely, smooth crescendo that sounds...like a violin being bowed. XD any idea how to do that? It's a romantic song I am playing,and my piano teacher sings those sections, where it should be like a violin, with a crescendo on the chords.

Unless you tremolo the notes, you can't do it.

I wish I could. I really really do. Are there any substitutes?

There is a tiny bit of an issue with this thread, Debbusyist. "to make a piano sing like a violin" is somehow doable in a somewhat "mythological sense". The piano is a piano and it won't sound like a violin, but the way you touch the keys and let them resonate can make all the difference in the world.

Your question, however, is impossible to pull off, since by definition the piano sound will decay (and rapidly actually, immediately after the attack). The only way you would be able to make a chord sound louder would be to replay the notes, tremolo the notes, or use digital/electronic means (for example reverse the chord)...

You can try and fool the audience by using body English but it will just be an illusion.

Well, is there a way to make the piano 'sing'? Like how Liszt or Chopin did?

Your piano teacher should be able to give you guidance about that.

Virtually all of the famous pianists do it quite well. You can watch videos on YouTube to get the idea.

Listen to Horowitz play (and voice the chords) in Scriabin's Etude in C# minor, Op. 2/1.

Sure!!!

What is that supposed to mean? That you can't access YouTube? Or that you think it's some "lost art"? Or what?

My friends who play the violin claim the violin only cries.....

Hear in your head the way you want it to sound. Do this away from the piano at times and also when you are playing. Sometimes something as simple as hearing it makes a huge difference.

Embrace illusion. The effects of illusion are real. If you can make an audience believe that the tone is getting louder, then for the purposes of music making, the tone is getting louder.

Tomasino

You can make the piano sing by your personal touch but I believe it has to be the soul singing first.

rada

You can always humm along.. Alternatively make your legato exquisite and shape yor phrases very thoughtfully. I learn a lot from listening to master string players and note how they shape their long lines and how they modulate their vibrato (STeven Isserlis, David Oistrakh come to mind). While you cannot reproduce it exactly the same way on the piano, it helps to have a plan in your head or your mind's ear of how you want it to sound.

If you play a note or chord unpedalled and then, once it's past the initial rapid decay, depress the pedal, you can get a bit of a crescendo effect from the additional sympathetic vibrations. It's pretty subtle on most pianos though, unlike what strings and winds can do.

Beethoven actually wrote crescendos like that in some of his sonatas.. Andras Schiff suggests using body language :p like lifting your body to make it look like its a crescendo..

He did?? I find that hard to imagine.

Back to my point up-thread a ways about illusion--body language is often used by very fine pianists to suggest sounds that aren't happening. For example, hands poetically suspended over notes no longer sounding, effectively creating the illusion that the chord can still be heard. With this in mind, I find it easy to imagine Schiff creating the illusion that the chord is growing louder by raising his body?

Tomasino

A recording artist will need other tricks up his sleeve, lest we do not hear his body rising on the CD!!

True.

True, but once it's on tape, it's easier to do. (if you're an audio engineer)

I have not seen a single pianist do this in decades of attending recitals. Can you post a Youtube example of this?

I am sure I have seen that in movies.

Barenboim talks about this in one of the masterclass videos. I don't remember which one. I think the gist of it was that if you imagine a crescendo on a sustained note or chord, that will affect how you play the following notes. In the process there's a chance you will communicate the illusion to the audience.

Smack the keys with bow.

There is also a video interview with Garrick Ohlsson where he talks about it a little.

Yes there is. The interview is very annoying. You can clearly see this in Garrick's face at certain points in the video.

Start with the lid down, then after striking the note, raise the lid...voila! A crescendo!

>gradual crescendo in a chord

When I played Debussy, I did that by pressing the pedal AFTER the chord was played. Gives a little crescendo the moment you press the pedal. Probably gradually because the symphatic resonance will take a little time. But not a very noticeable effect. I heard some people have a problem with this "effect" being exaggerated on the Yamaha DPs, you might try buying one of those to fit your need :-)

Stanza's idea would work better but is a bit less practical without assistance. Might work with an upright if you modify the front panel a bit. THey do it that way in organs.

Hitting the chord again would be yet another method. Not necessarily tremolo, slower repeated or only partial repeat of the chord probably will do. But I don't see how to make it as smooth as a bowed crescendo on a violin.

Of course lifting your body would work as well but only for yourself (as you get your ears above the music stand, I'm sure the volume will increase). However for the public the effect will be slim (little increase as your body reflects a little extra sound towards them)

I've noticed this also. When I want a note to sound clean and then bloom, I do exactly this. I find it very noticable on my grand. I use it in the beginning of Sonetto 104 by Liszt for one of the fermata notes. It makes a very cool sound as the harmonics begin to grow.