Does singing tone really exist on the piano? Does it make any difference whether a piano key is hit by a finger, fist, or an umbrella? This is a question posed in the piano edition of the Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides (1976) by Louis Kentner. The question is seemingly valid. The piano, at first inspection, is undeniably percussive; filled with dozens of little hammers busily striking strings. It seems impossible that such an instrument could produce anything but percussive sounds.
However, many pianists and piano makers would take issue with the idea that the piano cannot produce a singing tone. In fact, C. Bechstein confidently boasts of the singing tone of their pianos, and the pianist András Schiff praises Bechstein for their ability to build pianos that sound like ‘little birds’. The question, then, is not whether singing tone exists on the piano. The question is, does singing tone exist within the player? If not, why? And how can we teach it?
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