What’s the significance of weighted keys on a piano?

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What’s the significance of weighted keys on a piano?

In: Engineering

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Different pianos, depending on its value and quality, will also have different weights to their keys.

For most players, the keyboard on an upright may have enough weight for the player to be able to have some levels of dynamics while keeping it light enough to make a strong attack on the keys where necessary without much effort. However, lighter keyboards generally do not so perform well when it comes to softer dynamics, but that is often overlooked for the average player. In fact, the average player may not be able to fully utilise a heavier keyboard that even smaller baby-grands tend to have compared to an upright – the average player may find it difficult to produce precise and consistent dynamics with a heavier keyboard.

For a professional player, having heavier keys allows for a broader range of dynamics, and with the skill required at a professional level, the player can control dynamics precisely and consistently. Lang Lang is a pretty good example of utilising the full dynamic range of concert grands – he is able to produce tiny tinkling notes where he touches the keys just enough for it to make a sound but never so lightly that he misses any notes, and he is able to give full attacks on notes that resonate through the entire hall but never so brutally strong that the notes lose their quality timbre (although this can be contributed to the quality of the piano); then he controls the way the sound comes from the piano and either broadens or dampens the sound using his upper body.

Anonymous 0 Comments

There is no such thing as weighted keys on a ‘piano’ . Piano keys are just keys. If you’re referring to weighted keyboard keys.. then they are weighted to simulate the resistance of an actual, analog, piano .

Why simulate piano key weight? Because if you learn on a keyboard then attempt to play a piano you’re going to suffer in music quality and fatigue.

This is why people should learn guitar on accustic rather than electric, to build up hand strength and fine motor memory.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s like the travel on a computer keyboard. You get feedback and a better feel vs cheap musical keyboards that are non weighted where you end up with accidental key presses and such.

Anonymous 0 Comments

On a normal piano, if you press a key very hard it will make a loud sound. If you press the same key very softly it will make a quieter sound, but it will still be the same note.

Every piano is different, so pressing softly on a key on one piano might end up being loud if you press with the same force on a different piano.

So some people call that the “weight” of the keys.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Piano Keys have weight. That’s just how they exist.

Keyboards try to simulate that.

One of the advantagres of the keys having weight, is that, it makes it quite easy to control the volume your playing at, which is very important in piano.

Anonymous 0 Comments

On a normal keyboard, if you press a key, it makes a sound at a certain level, no matter how hard you press it. On a piano the amount of sound it makes depends on how hard you press the key. With weighted keys, you can simulate this effect.