A measurement of piano playing
How much of the time the una corda is down.
The same passage — Träumerei, bars 2–3 — 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 playing time with the soft pedal depressed. Poorly recovered from audio; treat with caution.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chopin Étude 10/1 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 100 |
| Schubert Op. 142/3 | 9 | 0 | 15 | 59 |
| Chopin Étude 10/12 | 19 | 0 | 19 | 58 |
| Chopin Ballade 4 | 12 | 0 | 24 | 53 |
| Rachmaninoff Prelude | 29 | 0 | 32 | 64 |
| Mozart K. 545 | 37 | 0 | 36 | 100 |
| Nocturne Op. 48/1 | 27 | 0 | 38 | 79 |
| Pathétique II | 47 | 0 | 45 | 97 |
| Fantaisie-Impromptu | 20 | 20 | 47 | 93 |
| Nocturne Op. 9/2 | 32 | 8 | 47 | 91 |
| Brahms Op. 118/2 | 28 | 0 | 52 | 89 |
| Ravel Pavane | 33 | 5 | 55 | 81 |
| Gymnopédie 1 | 23 | 0 | 61 | 100 |
| Schubert Op. 90/3 | 43 | 0 | 62 | 95 |
| Ravel Ondine | 61 | 6 | 65 | 95 |
| Bach Prelude in C | 24 | 0 | 65 | 100 |
| Clair de lune | 27 | 4 | 79 | 100 |
| Träumerei | 31 | 0 | 87 | 100 |
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 1.20. 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.