Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Touch and Dynamics

Hello.
My teacher - via Skype - complains that my playing is flat , meaning with no big difference between forte and piano - to sum up.
Should I change the "touch" in my Yamaha CLP 645 to soft1 or soft2 so I improve my dynamics? Will the result remain the same?

Thank you.

I would say if anything you should do the opposite and go more towards hard.

Moving towards soft will mean that you will hit the max volume on your piano with less force. Effectively narrowing the range of dynamics. E.g. If in Medium you had to hit at 50% power to get max volume, you've got between 0-50% of variation. If you move to soft you're lowering it, let's say to 40% for max volume, you've now got 0-40% of range. Moving it to Hard would say make it 70% and now you've got between 0-70%.

Also another point, when you practice on your digital are you playing with the DP on a low volume? If so try making it higher. If you always play with low volume then you associate how hard you are playing your piano with the volume you hear. Then when you play on another piano, like an acoustic, it will be much louder. Try practising with the output volume of your piano at a higher volume.

A lot of it could also be technique of playing. I would suggest getting a piece that you know inside and out and can play easily. And think about how you want it to sound, record yourself playing and play it back to yourself. "Could I be quieter here?", "A crescendo?", "Slow down?", "Maybe play it slightly detached".

So I took it by the wrong end of the stick.
I am going to try Hard1 and see what happens.
Thank you.

BTW, what about your CLP685? I hesitated between 645 and 675 and got finally the first one. They said the keyboard of the 675 (and 685) was a little heavy. What do you think?

No problem, good luck.

I haven't tried others. It is quite heavy. The only other piano I get to play is my teachers baby grand which also has quite a heavy action, so I suppose I am used to heavy actions.

The only other piano I have played is a 100+ year old Steinway grand at a recital and I found the touch very light compared to my DP and my teachers piano.

So, I would actually go against the tack of the responses here, and suggest that you ask your teacher whether they think it's something to do with the DP, or rather a technique issue that you can work on. Has the teacher tried your DP and commented on it? Do you also play "flat" on their/other pianos?

Changing the touch curve doesn't magically impart dynamics into your playing, and the CLP-645 is a premium instrument with a time-tested action and sound, it has no problems at all allowing beginner or advanced players to express the dynamics of what they're playing. A hard touch curve will just result in louder, flat playing, and a soft curve will just make for quieter flat playing.

Just want to make sure OP considers that they may be seeking a "technological quick fix" for something that needs to be worked on between the brain and fingertips.

My teacher does not play on DP and does not know much about them.
The classes are via Skype (FaceTime) so she can see what my videos show. (you can see them too if you want).

So, what's the point of changing the touch?



You maybe right. I was just asking for help.
Thank you.

I have heard the same advice in another threads. And yes, I play on a low volume - because of my neighbours. I suppose I should use the headphones more often.

Thank you.

Pianist preference. Some people prefer a lighter touch, and others prefer their action up be heavier. The touch curve shifts the piano's response to key velocity across the entire keyboard, in order to approximate a lighter or heavier action.

I second the advice to play at a higher volume if possible (using headphones if needed), it will allow you the chance to control your dynamics more easily.

That is a deficiency in hearing, not playing. Hearing takes time to develop. Of course, your teacher can hear the difference, so follow their instructions until you got it right.


Once you got to hear dynamics properly, your playing will automatically adjust to compensate whatever your piano's "touch" is set, so the setting essentially becomes irrelevant. Until then it will do nothing about your "flat playing".

Who knows, maybe the audio even gets compressed (as in "flattened") via Skype and the teacher has no proper idea of your dynamics.

(Just a silly idea which could be completely wrong.)

I am going to say to leave it on medium, for now. A software fix is probably not the best idea at the moment.

Turn your sound up to max.

Play your C major scales. Use a very firm strike for a run, then, use a very light touch to try and get the quietest sound possible.

This would be your maximum dynamic range. If there truly isn't much difference between the two, then start to change it in the software.

Pick a super easy piece, or stick to scales until you can play as soft as you can, consistently. Try and make proper accents, even be excessive with them to get used to the touch. Play an accented note, followed by (if using scales) the next three as soft. Some digitals are super sensitive and I have a hard time with soft touch to the point where I am just brushing the keys instead of pressing them. If it gets to that point, play it for a bit to develop a point of reference. Then change it all one way or all the other for an obvious change in tone. See how you like that for a bit. After you have gotten a good feel, dial it back to where you want it.

Just make sure that you know the dynamic range of which the digital is capable before changing settingsË™.

I would say that's eminently possible. Can't imagine Skype was really designed for much more than verbal comms...full frequency response or dynamics not required.

+1 !

In Skype -> Settings -> Audio+Video -> Automatically adjust microphone settings,

. . . set the switch to "Off".

Then, adjust the mic gain (from the computer's O/S ) so that, when you're playing loudly, the meter doesn't quite reach the end of the scale.

I'm not _sure_ that's causing your problem (it's possible that your playing really _is_ "flat"). But if Skype is auto-adjusting the mic gain to keep a fairly constant level, your teacher might be hearing it as "flat" -- which it would be, on his end of the link.

FWIW, I agree with a few of the previous comments:

. . . Keep the DP's "touch" on Medium or slightly heavier,

. . . Try keeping the volume up around 2/3 of "full", or higher.

Or use headphones, and set the volume so that when you pound on the keys, your ears complain just a little bit.

Acoustic pianos are _loud_. A common problem with students practicing on DP's is that they set the volume control low, and then learn to pound on the keyboard to get a decent sound level from the loudspeakers.

Automatically adjusting microphone settings by Skype app (so mic gain is increased if the DP volume is low) will get rid of all the dynamics! I doubt even Horowitz can play pp or ppp with that setting on .

Assuming this is ruled out/fixed, I would suggest to leave the DP settings to their default values and try to adjust your technique so you can play pp,ppp or ff, fff clearly. One way to check your technique is, go to an acoustic piano shop and try out one of their better acoustic grand pianos. See if you can play across the entire range of dynamics. If you are satisfied you can do that, you can record your DP directly via line out or internal recorder of DP (if it has one) and send it to your piano teacher by email. See if dynamics are better in the recording (compared to Skype).

Osho

Skype has a wider frequency range than "voice-grade" phone lines. I'm using an SM58 mic, and the fidelity (for voice) is quite good. I don't know whether Skype compresses dynamics, or not.

There are lots of Skype-based teachers and students -- it can't be that bad.<g>

Some Googling yields this story:

https://blogs.skype.com/stories/2012/09/12/skype-and-a-new-audio-codec/

Might not be that bad: there must be some piano students who have no other access to a teacher, so would resort to its use regardless of the shortcomings.
Didn't know Skype delivers better quality than a phone, though. Never used it.