How hard can I play my piano?

[fumbler]

Hi,

This might seem a silly question. Like many a pianiste manque, I have a selection of old war horses that I ham my way through (or part-way through) with varying degrees of ability, such as Chopin's Heroic Polonaise, Rac's Prelude in C# minor, Liszt's Liebestraum, etc. These involve some f and ff octave leaps that bring the hand down on the keys with some alacrity.

Can I damage my piano by 'hard' playing? Of course I don't injure my hands on the keys, but is there a limit to how forceful I should play?

How hard should I play the ff bass octaves in the Rac prelude? And the ff treble octaves in Chopin's Polonaise? Will the hammer shanks, hammers or strings suffer?

I have an upper range upright, by the way (a rather splendid Yamaha, as PG calls them).

Rgds.

[Gill the Piano]

I too am a manky pianist (!) and it's great fun to belt through what I call the PMT repertoire (my husband doesn't know much about music, but he knows Rachmaninov means trouble) atfffffz, and it shouldn't hurt as long as you're relaxed. It's when (usually) kids - specifically teenage boys! - keep their forearms rigid and smash down on the keys that a shockwave travels up the hammershank (on an old piano this can often split/break it) and through to the string, knocking it flat if the tuning pin is at all insecure and in extreme cases (particularly where hammer heads are badly worn) breaking the string. A Yamaha is a splendid workhorse for a studying pianist and the larger models in particular should be able to take whatever you throw at it. And a competent pianist should be relaxed, even when playing loudly. You might need a tuner a little more often, that's all...and we got to eat!

[Alvin]

At first I too, thought it was a silly question! I play immortals such as Islamey by Mili Balakirev (Russian, Classical Fantasie) and Sweet Georgia Brown by Harry Connick Jr (American, Pure American Jazz) and have always wondered if my pianos could take the abuse. I had a Cramer piano before, and now, a Moutrie. All English pianos for the past decade or two. I broke the lowest C# key once on the Cramer, one of the bass strings. Snapped RIGHT while I was playing. Thank god I was not playing with the wooden cover removed from the piano at that time! Damn.. now I am really worried about my brand new 5' 1" BABY..

[Gill the Piano]

A piano teacher client of mine had a teenage 'thrasher' who was playing (and I use the term in its loosest possible sense) when the piano fired a bass string...she said it cured him! Nothing like a bit of adrenalin-fired terror to instil piano technique in a child, says I!