A measurement of piano playing
How often the bass is placed clearly ahead of the melody.
The same passage — Brahms Op. 118/2, bars 1–3 — from the recordings that sit lowest and highest on this measurement. Every clip is a note list replayed on one sampled grand at one gain, so the only difference you are hearing is the playing.
Share of two-hand chords whose lowest note precedes the right hand by more than 50 ms.
Every piece in the library, with the range across its recordings. The units mean the same thing in every row, except for basic tempo, which is in each piece’s own beat.
| Piece | Recordings | Lowest | Median | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gymnopédie 1 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 55 |
| Pathétique II | 47 | 0 | 3 | 38 |
| Rachmaninoff Prelude | 29 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| Chopin Étude 10/1 | 31 | 0 | 3 | 58 |
| Mozart K. 545 | 37 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| Ravel Pavane | 33 | 1 | 5 | 37 |
| Träumerei | 31 | 0 | 5 | 49 |
| Chopin Étude 10/12 | 19 | 1 | 8 | 18 |
| Chopin Ballade 4 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 17 |
| Brahms Op. 118/2 | 28 | 1 | 10 | 55 |
| Nocturne Op. 48/1 | 27 | 5 | 11 | 23 |
| Schubert Op. 90/3 | 43 | 1 | 12 | 52 |
| Schubert Op. 142/3 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 18 |
| Fantaisie-Impromptu | 20 | 1 | 15 | 26 |
| Nocturne Op. 9/2 | 32 | 1 | 18 | 37 |
| Clair de lune | 27 | 2 | 18 | 38 |
| Ravel Ondine | 61 | 6 | 22 | 37 |
A Disklavier capture — the pianist’s own key sensors, no microphone — was rendered to audio, transcribed as if it were a recording, and re-measured. The error the transcription step introduces, as a multiple of how far pianists actually differ on this dial, is 0.04. solid This dial survives transcription intact: where one recording sits on it can be argued from.