Prepared piano

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A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects (preparations) between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers.

The idea of altering an instrument's timbre through the use of external objects has been applied to instruments other than the piano; see, for example, prepared guitar or third bridge guitar.

Contents

[edit] History

John Cage was undoubtedly the composer who put the "prepared piano" concept on the world map, and coined the term. He credited Henry Cowell, and, to a lesser extent, Erik Satie, for contributing to the idea, and was probably unaware of many other precedents described below.

[edit] Precedents

Since the later days of the harpsichord (17th-18th century) stringed keyboard instruments could have registers, for instance giving a drier or more ample sound when a stop was pulled (a stop in the meaning of a similar disposition for organs, known as organ stops).

When the first pianos were invented around the beginning of the 18th century, the only "coloring" of the sounds produced by the instrument resulted from how the individual keys were pressed ("loud" = "forte", or "softly" = "piano", giving the name to the instrument: fortepiano). A type of "register", first implemented with a "stop" above the keyboard, that became a standard device for pianos in the second half of the 18th century was engaging or disengaging the muting of the strings after the release of a key. Only by the end of the 18th century the muting mechanism was triggered with a pedal, after an intermediate period when this "register" was operated by the pianist's knees.

But the idea of harpsichord-like registers lived on: in the early 19th century some pianos were provided with a "reed" stop, which lowered a strip of paper onto the strings. This led musicologists like Tom Beghin to believe that the technique of placing a strip of paper on piano strings would probably have originated before it was standardised as a register operated with stops, and that, for instance, Mozart's Alla Turca can safely be played with a piece of paper on some of the strings as a "historical" interpretation (see http://www.klara.be/html/klara_cds.html or http://streampower.belgacom.be/vrt/klara/beghin_mozart.mp3 for an audio example of this Alla Turca played on a "prepared" rebuilt "authentic" Mozart piano, in Tom Beghin's interpretation).

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, "Turkish" music was so popular that piano manufacturers made special pianos with a "Turkish stop", also called the "military" or "Janissary" stop. The player would press a pedal that caused a bell to ring and/or a padded hammer to strike the soundboard in imitation of a bass drum. The Turkish stop was popular for playing the famous Mozart Rondo alla Turca, K. 331.

In the 1920s a new invention was presented, the Luthéal, which extended the "register" possibilities of a piano to its maximum, producing cimbalon-like sounds in some registers, exploiting harmonics of the strings when pulling other register-stops, and also some registers making other objects, which were lowered just above the strings, resound. But that instrument became obsolete before it became popular, partly due to most of the mechanics of the instrument being too sensitive, needing constant adjustment.

The short rise and fall of the Luthéal in 1920s Paris took place about a decade after the only French experiment John Cage was probably aware of when he developed the "prepared piano" idea around the middle of the 20th century: Erik Satie's execution of the piano version of the Piège de Méduse incidental music in 1913 or 1914, in which case the preparation was limited again to placing sheets of paper on the piano strings, in order to imitate the "mechanical" sound of the monkey puppet that figured in the play. Whether Satie himself saw any connection to a "tradition" of applying paper strips on piano strings is not known.

Another precedent was an experiment by the French composer Maurice Delage (1879-1961): his Ragamalika (1912-22), based on the classical music of India, calls for a piece of cardboard to be placed under the B-flat in the second line of the bass clef to dampen the sound, imitating the sound of an Indian drum.[1]

[edit] John Cage and later composers

The first composer to use prepared piano extensively was John Cage, who is often (though inaccurately) credited with inventing the instrument. Cage certainly popularized the prepared piano, and inspired many other composers. Arvo Pärt's popular Tabula Rasa (1977) is one of the better-known compositions to make extensive use of a prepared piano.

Cage first prepared a piano when he was commissioned to write music for "Bacchanale", a dance by Syvilla Fort in 1938. For some time previously, Cage had been writing exclusively for a percussion ensemble, but the hall where Fort’s dance was to be staged had no room for a percussion group. The only instrument available was a single grand piano. After some consideration, Cage said that he realized it was possible “to place in the hands of a single pianist the equivalent of an entire percussion orchestra ... With just one musician, you can really do an unlimited number of things on the inside of the piano if you have at your disposal an 'exploded' keyboard.” (Cage and Charles, 38) Cage would often quip that by preparing a piano he left it in better condition than he found it.

Cage himself said he was greatly inspired by Henry Cowell's experiments with the so-called string piano, in which the performer plucks and scrapes the strings of the piano directly.

In Cage's use, the preparations are typically nuts, bolts and pieces of rubber to be lodged between and entwined around the strings. Some preparations make duller, more percussive sounds than usual, while others create sonorous bell-like tones. Additionally, the individual parts of a preparation like a nut loosely screwed onto a bolt will vibrate themselves, adding their own unique sound. By placing the preparation between two of the strings on a note which has three strings assigned to it, it is possible to change the timbre of that note by depressing the soft pedal on the piano, which moves the hammers so they strike only two strings instead of all three (the soft pedal is traditionally called "una corda" on a grand). Other prepared piano sounds can be reminiscent of mbiras, marimbas, bells, wood blocks, Indonesian gamelan instruments, or many other sounds less easily defined.

Although it is possible to prepare an upright piano in this way to some extent, it is far easier, and far more common, on a grand piano.

The phrase "prepared piano" is also sometimes applied to other kinds of preparations. The "tack piano" is a piano that has been altered by inserting thumbtacks or small nails into the striking end of each hammer, so that the instrument will produce a more percussive sound and brighter timbre. The resulting tone often resembles the sound of a very old and uncared-for piano. The tack piano has been used primarily in "honky-tonk"-style piano playing, or to make a piano sound like an antique piano that might have been heard in a saloon or brothel around the early 20th century. The application of tacks is generally discouraged by piano technicians as the tacks can drop off the hammers and lodge in the strings or jam the mechanism. On normal pianos, felt coverings on the hammers will harden with age (though not usually for at least several decades), yielding a characteristic "tinny" sound. This can be cured by softening the hammers with a device consisting of multiple needles, resembling a comb. Where the felt is too far gone, it can be simply replaced.

On some pianos, a bar is in installed above the hammers and activated by the center pedal. This bar can be furnished with felt - which will significantly mute the sound of the piano (a practice mute) or strips of cloth tape with metal attached to the ends, and the hammers will hit the metal bits onto the string. This is sometimes called a mandolin attachment - although mandolin players would likely object that the sound is nothing like a mandolin. This gives a sound similar to the "tack piano" but can instantly be returned to a regular piano sound by releasing the center pedal.

In classical music, the American composer Lou Harrison has called for tack piano in some of his compositions, primarily for its clarity of tone. The composer Conlon Nancarrow adapted his player pianos in a similar way, covering the hammers of his pianos with metal bands and hardened leather strips.

More recent composers to use prepared pianos include Philip Corner, Carson Kievman, Richard D. James (Aphex Twin), Jason Moran and Stephen Scott. Andrea Neumann takes an extreme approach to piano preparation, having gradually dismantled pianos until the wooden frame and piano strings are all that remain.

[edit] In popular music

One of the earliest uses of prepared piano in mainstream pop standards is the 1953 Ferrante and Teicher dual-piano album Hi-FiReworks.[citation needed] This is also one of the first records of the 1950s Exotica movement, also called Space Age Bachelor Pad.

On "All Tomorrow's Parties" from The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967), John Cale prepared his piano with a chain of paper clips.[2]

Perhaps the best known recent use of prepared piano in pop music is the Flying Lizards' version of Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)". Featuring a piano prepared with small pieces of tin and phone books, the minimalist song had a unique sound that turned it into a huge hit in the early 1980s. It is now often used in advertisements.

On David Bowie's 1979 album Lodger, Brian Eno used a looped prepared piano to provide the rhythmic basis of the track "African Night Flight".

Ernst Horn from the German group Deine Lakaien uses a prepared upright piano during live concerts, most notably during the song "The Mirror Men".

In 1994, Tori Amos used a prepared upright piano for Bells for Her on her album Under the Pink. "Bells for Her" was also played on a prepared piano for the second half of that album's live tour.

More recently, the British electronic composer Richard D. James (better known as Aphex Twin) used a prepared piano on his 2001 album drukqs. Artist Ben Folds has recorded numerous songs using a tack piano as well. Denman Maroney performs on what he has dubbed "hyperpiano", which "involves stopping, sliding, bowing, plucking, striking and strumming the strings with copper bars, aluminum bowls, rubber blocks, plastic boxes and other household objects."[3]

Chris Bulter's The Waitresses use prepared piano on their song "No Guilt". Members of the Grateful Dead (Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, and Tom Constanten) used prepared piano on their infamous second studio album Anthem of the Sun.

Elton John is known to use a prepared piano in concert to give some of his songs (including "Daniel" and "Philadelphia Freedom") an electric sound.[citation needed]

British composer/producer Chris Brown created a type of prepared electric piano, the Gazamba from the shell of a Wurlitzer electric piano - it has become the trademark of his work.

Christine McVie, former pianist of Fleetwood Mac, used a prepared upright piano (metal bar attachment) on "Sara" from the album Tusk. A piano like this was also used on the Tusk Tour.

Matt Bellamy of Muse used a prepared grand piano on the band's 2003 recording of "Sing For Absolution" for the album Absolution.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Pasler, Jann (2000). "Race, Orientalism, and Distinction in the Wake of the 'Yellow Peril'." In Western Music and Its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music, ed. Georgina Born and David Hesmondhalgh. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, p. 107.
  2. ^ Mitchell, Tim Sedition and Alchemy : A Biography of John Cale, 2003, ISBN 0720611326
  3. ^ Philadelphia FRINGE Festival 2000 - Hyperpiano. Retrieved on December 23, 2005.

[edit] References

  • Cage, John, and Daniel Charles (1981). For The Birds: John Cage in Conversation with Daniel Charles. Marion Boyers. ISBN 0-7145-2690-8.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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