A measurement of piano playing
The same lift, but measured only among the notes of the right hand.
The same passage — Mozart K. 545, bars 1–4 — 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.
Top-note velocity minus the mean of the other right-hand notes of the chord.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ravel Ondine | 61 | 1.1 | 4.9 | 10.7 |
| Chopin Étude 10/12 | 19 | 2.4 | 7.0 | 10.4 |
| Rachmaninoff Prelude | 29 | 4.2 | 8.9 | 17.4 |
| Chopin Ballade 4 | 12 | 6.5 | 9.5 | 13.2 |
| Nocturne Op. 48/1 | 27 | 5.3 | 9.7 | 12.4 |
| Mozart K. 545 | 37 | 2.5 | 10.0 | 21.5 |
| Gymnopédie 1 | 23 | 4.7 | 13.0 | 19.8 |
| Nocturne Op. 9/2 | 32 | 9.3 | 14.4 | 22.8 |
| Pathétique II | 47 | 10.6 | 14.6 | 18.1 |
| Schubert Op. 142/3 | 9 | 9.1 | 15.0 | 19.0 |
| Träumerei | 31 | 7.1 | 15.0 | 23.7 |
| Clair de lune | 27 | 8.8 | 15.2 | 21.5 |
| Brahms Op. 118/2 | 28 | 10.6 | 16.3 | 21.1 |
| Ravel Pavane | 33 | 9.3 | 16.9 | 22.9 |
| Schubert Op. 90/3 | 43 | 8.5 | 17.9 | 29.9 |
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 0.86. fair Usable, but the error is worth stating alongside any single value.