A measurement of piano playing
How much louder the piece's high point is than its opening.
The same passage — Ravel Ondine, bars 58–60 — 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 melody velocity in the climax section minus the opening section.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathétique II | 47 | -8 | -2 | 3 |
| Nocturne Op. 9/2 | 32 | -6 | -1 | 7 |
| Gymnopédie 1 | 23 | -3 | -1 | 2 |
| Mozart K. 545 | 37 | -4 | 0 | 5 |
| Chopin Étude 10/1 | 31 | -5 | 1 | 4 |
| Brahms Op. 118/2 | 28 | -3 | 1 | 6 |
| Chopin Étude 10/12 | 19 | -2 | 1 | 5 |
| Träumerei | 31 | -4 | 3 | 7 |
| Bach Prelude in C | 27 | -1 | 4 | 17 |
| Schubert Op. 90/3 | 43 | -3 | 4 | 11 |
| Fantaisie-Impromptu | 20 | -2 | 7 | 13 |
| Schubert Op. 142/3 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| Ravel Pavane | 33 | -3 | 8 | 15 |
| Nocturne Op. 48/1 | 27 | 3 | 9 | 18 |
| Chopin Ballade 4 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 14 |
| Clair de lune | 27 | 12 | 23 | 32 |
| Ravel Ondine | 61 | 8 | 23 | 38 |
| Rachmaninoff Prelude | 29 | 13 | 28 | 50 |
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 1.95. 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.