A measurement of piano playing
Whether the tune lands with the accompaniment underneath it, or leans behind it.
The same passage — Schubert Op. 90/3, bars 1–2 — 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.
Melody onset minus the time predicted by interpolating the running accompaniment figure in the other hand. Positive means the melody is behind. Only meaningful where the figuration is actually running: in some engravings the accompaniment is written in the upper staff and the measure is not reported.
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 | -65 | -21 | 39 |
| Schubert Op. 142/3 | 9 | -23 | -8 | 4 |
| Clair de lune | 27 | -52 | 1 | 55 |
| Chopin Étude 10/12 | 19 | -30 | 2 | 20 |
| Chopin Ballade 4 | 12 | -28 | 2 | 44 |
| Nocturne Op. 9/2 | 32 | -53 | 2 | 36 |
| Mozart K. 545 | 37 | -10 | 4 | 49 |
| Nocturne Op. 48/1 | 27 | -40 | 4 | 89 |
| Fantaisie-Impromptu | 20 | -44 | 16 | 90 |
| Ravel Ondine | 61 | -21 | 35 | 95 |
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 0.09. solid This dial survives transcription intact: where one recording sits on it can be argued from.