Piano glossary | Sound House

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Piano glossary

Ivory keyboard: A hygroscopic keyboard that is adopted for the high-end model digital piano, reproduces the touch and feel of ivory on the white keys, and reproduces the natural texture and touch of ebony on black keys. Noise when fingernails hit the keyboard is also reduced.
Action: A mechanism that conveys the movement of the keyboard to a hammer and strikes a string. Also called hammer action. The piano is linked to the hammer by striking the keyboard, and sounds are produced by striking the strings inside. I will talk about this series of structures.
Agraffe: A method that can optimize the direction and angle of the strings by adjusting the strings of the piano through the center hole. It holds the temperament, and has the effect of sustaining the tone without turbidity. Some high-end upright pianos use this, and there are also models that are only used in the low-pitched agraffe part, and also that they are adopted in all strings as total agraffe.
Advanced hammer action: One of the keyboard structures used for Kawai digital pianos. They have pursued "heavy feeling when hitting hard," "controllability when playing weakly", and "a feeling of firm stopping when pushing hard."
Escapement: In an acoustic piano, the internal hammer strikes a string when the keyboard is pressed to make a sound. The hammer is released from the pressing force on the keyboard just before hitting the string and momentarily touches the string. This mechanism is called an escapement.
Effect: An effect that changes the timbre of chorus, delay, reverb, etc.
Sound source: The electronic piano is divided into a keyboard part which is a switch and a sound source part for outputting a sound. The part containing sound data is called a sound source.
Key: The keyboard. The current standard piano keyboard is a total of 88 keys with 52 white keys and 36 black keys. The keyboard of the acoustic piano is generally made of pine wood, and in many cases, ivory and acrylic are used on the upper surface of the white key and bakelite and ebony are used on the upper surface of the black key.
Grade hammer (GH) keyboard: The keyboard structure adopted by many models of Yamaha electronic pianos. The weight of the hammer without using a spring, the natural keyboard return when you release the response or finger when playing, and faithfully reproduces to the keyboard touch of the piano that feels light in the low range and light in the high range. The bass part is heavy, the treble part is light, and by bringing the weight of the keyboard close to the grand piano, it has rich expressive power that exceeds the conventional wisdom of electronic pianos.
Keling hammer action keyboard: The keyboard structure adopted in many Casio digital pianos. As with grand pianos, it does not use a spring, but is equipped with an action mechanism based on only the weight of the hammer itself, making it possible to have both a firm response and a smooth touch. It is possible to play continuously even if the key has not been released, and they have a feeling close to that of playing like a grand piano.
Maximum number of simultaneous notes: The maximum number of notes that can be played simultaneously. In the case of digital pianos, the more the maximum number of simultaneous sounds is, the more the damper pedal is used and the more complicated ones, the sound can be enjoyed without interruption. In addition, with models that can simultaneously play tones other than the piano, accompaniment using more tones can be performed.
Sampling: In electronic musical instruments, digitally recording the sound of an actual musical instrument and using it as a sound source. Stereo sampling is a method of reproducing different signals from the two left and right channels.
Split: A function that can divide the keyboard into multiple areas and play with different tones. The split keyboard position is called a split point.
Sostenuto pedal: The pedal in the center in the case of the grand piano's three pedals. Sostenuto means to hold sound. Only the sound of the keyboard you are holding down at the time you step on it has an effect until the pedal is released.
Soft pedal: Pedal to the left. Also known as the shift pedal Una Korda. It is possible to obtain changes in volume and timbre during performance. In addition, the left pedal in a typical upright piano can mainly obtain a change in volume by shortening the stroke distance between the hammer and the string.
Damper pedal: Pedal to the right. Also called a sustain pedal. With acoustic pianos, when you step on, all the dampers (devices that stop the vibration of the strings) can leave the strings at one time and extend the sound's finish. The most popular pedals that are sold separately from each manufacturer and are also used on stage pianos and the like.
Half pedal: With regard to the damper pedal, a playing method that aims for the effect of the half-effect state depending on the degree of depression, or the state.
Progressive Hammer Action (PHA) Keyboard: A keyboard structure that reproduces the natural touch unique to grand pianos, often used for Roland's digital pianos, with the motion of a hammer without using a spring.
Wooden keyboard: The feeling of touch is closer to the grand piano because it is a wood keyboard that uses the same wood as an acoustic piano, and it is denser and heavier than a regular keyboard.
Real Weighted Hammer Action: Korg's digital piano uses this in many cases, and like the grand piano, it is heavy in the bass, and the touch gets lighter as it goes to the treble.
Reverb: Reverberation effect. Adjust the amount of reverberation in rooms, stages, halls, etc.
Lesson function: Built-in practice songs, minus one section, a function that can be practiced efficiently using tempo change and can be fun.

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