Repetition behaviour of piano actions

FFG Innovationsscheck Project Number 872883, 2019–2020

Very fast trills and tone repetitions, as they are usually required in piano solo repertoire, can only be realized today on grand pianos with the double repetition actions. The actions of upright pianos are still too slow for this and therefore unsuitable.

With its patented "High Speed KAMM Action", the Vienna-based company Feurich has found a way to enable the fastest repetitions even with upright piano actions.

The aim of this Innovationsscheck is to develop scientific methods for recording the mode of operation of this mechanical innovation and, as a result, to identify and implement possible improvements in material and function. In addition, subjective assessments of pianists will be validated by these quantitative measurements.

Project team IWK

Montserrat Pàmies-Vilà, Werner Goebl, Alexander Mayer, Gregor Widholm (PI)

Publications

Montserrat Pàmies-Vilà, Alexander Mayer, Werner Goebl, Gregor Widholm (2024)
"Pianinos mit dem Repetitionsverhalten eines Konzertflügels - Analyse mit künstlichem Finger und Spieltests (abstract)"
39. Musikinstrumentenbau-Symposium: Vom Pyramidenflügel zum Pianino – Die Entwicklung der aufrechtstehenden Pianoforte-Instrumente, Michaelstein, Germany. Program.
 

Montserrat Pàmies-Vilà, Alexander Mayer, Werner Goebl, Gregor Widholm (2021) 
"Repetitionsverhalten beim Pianino: Spielbarkeit nach Einbau unterstützender Federmechanik",
in Proceedings of the DAGA 2021, Vienna, Austria. 
https://pub.dega-akustik.de/DAGA_2021/data/articles/000047.pdf

Video Feurich Mod. 123 - Vienna

In this video (from the minute 4:12), you can find an explanation of (part of) the experiments we carried out within this project.