Music
Artists
Albums
Instruments
Labels
Genres
Lyrics
Awards
Picks
Art
Literature
Film

advanced search

instrumentrelations
concert grand

The largest size of grand piano at around 9 feet in length. It is often referred to as a "9-foot grand" although it may not actually be 9 feet in length.

All else being equal, longer pianos with longer strings have larger, richer sound and lower 'inharmonicity' (the degree to which the frequencies of overtones - known as partials or harmonics - sound sharp relative to whole multiples of the fundamental frequency). This results from the piano's considerable string stiffness; as a struck string decays its harmonics vibrate, not from their termination, but from a point very slightly toward the center (or more flexible part) of the string. The higher the partial, the further sharp it runs. Pianos with shorter and thicker strings have more inharmonicity. The greater the inharmonicity, the more the ear perceives it as harshness of tone. 

The inharmonicity of piano strings requires that octaves be stretched, or tuned to a lower octave's corresponding sharp overtone rather than to a theoretically correct octave. If octaves are not stretched, single octaves sound in tune, but double — and notably triple — octaves are unacceptably narrow. Stretching a small piano's octaves to match its inherent inharmonicity level creates an imbalance among all the instrument's intervallic relationships. In a concert grand, however, the octave 'stretch' retains harmonic balance, even when aligning treble notes to a harmonic produced from three octaves below. This lets close and widespread octaves sound pure, and produces virtually beatless perfect fifths. This gives the concert grand a brilliant, singing and sustaining tone quality — one of the principal reasons that full-size grands are used in the concert hall.


categories:
grand piano
 
© 2024 Information Strategies

Advanced search

Search for exact word or phrase: 
search in:
 album titles
 artist names
 credits
 track titles
 lyrics
 notes