A measurement of piano playing
How many changes of harmony are allowed to overlap under one pedal.
The same passage — Ravel Ondine, bars 5–6 — 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.
Mean number of bass-note changes caught inside a single pedal span.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bach Prelude in C | 24 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Mozart K. 545 | 37 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 3.8 |
| Chopin Étude 10/1 | 31 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Gymnopédie 1 | 23 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 3.0 |
| Träumerei | 31 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 2.7 |
| Chopin Étude 10/12 | 19 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.9 |
| Schubert Op. 90/3 | 43 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 2.8 |
| Brahms Op. 118/2 | 28 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 2.9 |
| Fantaisie-Impromptu | 20 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 2.8 |
| Pathétique II | 47 | 1.6 | 2.6 | 3.4 |
| Ravel Pavane | 33 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 3.8 |
| Schubert Op. 142/3 | 9 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 3.0 |
| Clair de lune | 27 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 4.5 |
| Rachmaninoff Prelude | 29 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 4.1 |
| Chopin Ballade 4 | 12 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 3.7 |
| Nocturne Op. 9/2 | 32 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 4.7 |
| Nocturne Op. 48/1 | 27 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 4.9 |
| Ravel Ondine | 61 | 3.5 | 5.7 | 12.7 |
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 1.24. noisy The transcription moves this dial about as far as pianists differ on it, so no claim should rest on where a single recording sits.