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Musical Robots and Interactive Multimodal Systems pp 143–163Cite as

Automated Piano: Techniques for Accurate Expression of Piano Playing

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Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ((STAR,volume 74))

Abstract

The challenge of developing an automated piano that accurately produce the soft tones of a desired performance which is a problem encountered by pianists themselves, led to a reconsideration of the touch involved in producing soft piano tones. For this purpose, the behavior of the piano’s action mechanism was measured and observed based on a weight effect which is one of the pianist’s performance techniques, and the accurate expression of soft tones was realized. Furthermore, although double-strikes by the hammer and non-musical sounds occur during the performance of soft tones, such sound effects were cancelable. This Chapter describes the development of a superior automated piano which is capable of reproducing a desired performance with expressive soft tones. The piano’s hardware and software have been developed, and the piano’s action mechanism has been analyzed with reference to the “touch.” This fundamental input waveform can be used to accurately and automatically reproduce a key touch based on performance information for a piece of classical music. The user can accurately create an emotionally expressive performance according to an idea without moving the body of the pianist.

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Authors
  1. Eiji Hayashi
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Humanoid Robotics Institute Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Ookubo, 168-8555, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Jorge Solis

  2. Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music (ICSRiM), University of Leeds School of Computing & School of Music, LS2 9JT, Leeds, UK

    Kia Ng

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Hayashi, E. (2011). Automated Piano: Techniques for Accurate Expression of Piano Playing. In: Solis, J., Ng, K. (eds) Musical Robots and Interactive Multimodal Systems. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 74. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22291-7_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22291-7_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-22290-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-22291-7

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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