A measurement of piano playing
The opposite view of the same thing: note-to-note jumps in melody loudness.
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 absolute difference in velocity between consecutive melody notes.
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 | 27 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 8.4 |
| Mozart K. 545 | 37 | 4.7 | 5.8 | 7.1 |
| Nocturne Op. 9/2 | 32 | 5.4 | 6.4 | 8.8 |
| Fantaisie-Impromptu | 20 | 5.7 | 6.8 | 8.1 |
| Brahms Op. 118/2 | 28 | 5.9 | 6.8 | 7.9 |
| Schubert Op. 90/3 | 43 | 5.8 | 6.9 | 9.9 |
| Chopin Ballade 4 | 12 | 6.2 | 7.0 | 8.4 |
| Pathétique II | 47 | 5.6 | 7.0 | 10.2 |
| Rachmaninoff Prelude | 29 | 5.4 | 7.0 | 10.7 |
| Gymnopédie 1 | 23 | 6.0 | 7.1 | 9.3 |
| Schubert Op. 142/3 | 9 | 5.8 | 7.4 | 8.0 |
| Clair de lune | 27 | 6.0 | 7.4 | 9.7 |
| Träumerei | 31 | 5.1 | 7.6 | 9.4 |
| Nocturne Op. 48/1 | 27 | 6.4 | 7.9 | 10.0 |
| Chopin Étude 10/12 | 19 | 6.0 | 8.2 | 10.4 |
| Chopin Étude 10/1 | 31 | 6.5 | 8.5 | 10.7 |
| Ravel Pavane | 33 | 6.0 | 8.5 | 10.6 |
| Ravel Ondine | 61 | 7.1 | 9.4 | 13.3 |
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 1.07. 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.