There’s Even More to Playing the Piano


Chapter 23 - A Bit of Science

Musical instruments and voices set the air vibrating. This sets our ear drums vibrating. Depending on the quality of the sound, we interpret this as speech, noise or music. It is amazing how much detail and meaning we can derive from the complex three-dimensional vibrations that reach our ears. Sound waves are longitudinal waves. They are patterns of varying air pressure. The diagram below shows a moment in time as a longitudinal wave passes along a Slinky® spring: It is, perhaps, easier to understand sound by considering the transverse waves of a string: The...

Sign in to view if you have purchased access to this content or see purchase options below.

Purchase options

Get full access to this content in addition to our growing library of over 1000 articles, videos and other resources for as little as £13.99 per month or £119.99 a year. Click here to sign-up or click here to find-out more.

View next...

25 Easy and Progressive Etudes (Op. 100)

<h3> <a href="/content/pages/31-25-easy-and-progressive-etudes-op-100?bundle_url=online-academy&amp;last_viewed=true">Walkthroughs</a></h3>

Burgmüller’s 25 Easy and Progressive Etudes, Op. 100 have been a mainstay of elementary étude repertoire for many generations - and deservedly so. I cannot imagine any young pianist or elementary player who would not immediately engage with, or benefit from learning them. This series of videos provides walkthroughs of... Read >>


Graham Fitch Repertoire

25 Easy and Progressive Etudes (Op. 100)

<h3> <a href="/content/pages/147-25-easy-and-progressive-etudes-op-100?bundle_url=online-academy&amp;last_viewed=true">Study Edition Annotations</a></h3>

Burgmüller’s 25 Easy and Progressive Etudes, Op. 100 have been a mainstay of elementary étude repertoire for many generations - and deservedly so. I cannot imagine any young pianist or elementary player who would not immediately engage with, or benefit from learning them. This series of articles provides annotations and... Read >>


Graham Fitch Repertoire

Fantasie-Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor (Op. 66)

<h3> <a href="/content/pages/130-fantasie-impromptu-in-c-sharp-minor-op-66?bundle_url=online-academy&amp;last_viewed=true">Walkthrough</a></h3>

A series of detailed video demonstrations on solving the various challenges posed by Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu, with a special focus on the three-against-four polyrhythm.... Read >>


Graham Fitch Repertoire