01 Jan 2012 • Natural Dynamics on the piano is an artificial creation by natural means.
Natural Dynamics: the curve of sound volume in relation to pitch. It takes twice the bow to play an octave higher; same principle for all acoustic instruments. When you ask someone not to raise their voice, you are concerned with being yelled at (louder), not vocal pitch (higher), but the two are inseparable. An absolutely fundamental musical principle. In short: the higher, the louder. Strings and voice are immediate(versus imminent)-sound-production musical instrument. There are, as always, exceptions to natural dynamics due to expressive considerations.
Natural Dynamics on the piano is produced by connecting single, instantly decaying notes (imagine a sloped jagged line, a raising mountain range of summits and valleys, each peak the result of individual contacts, spiking with volume and quickly falling) in a dynamic line (vector curve). The grand piano, since it is an imminent-sound-production instrument, possesses no inherit natural dynamics and must imitate the dynamic lines of immediate-sound-production instruments, such as orchestra instruments or the human voice, lest it shall sound very bad. In short: Since the individual note makes a rapid diminuendo after initial contact, a crescendo (growing) line on the piano is an illusion, an artificial creation. A diminuendo on the piano (falling) is a less jagged line.
Natural means at the piano are the application of our biological bodies, our inspired minds, and, of course, physical laws. In short: piano technique.
Natural Dynamics on the piano is the foundation of expressive piano playing and, amongst other things, the high art of Bel-Canto on the piano.