Baby Grand Piano Placement in a Small Room
Since I joined the National Symphony Orchestra in 1970, I have performed in large, modest, and medium-size rooms. Some have sounded wonderful, some not so wonderful. One night we play at the Kennedy Centre, and the next in a loftier school gymnasium. Same music, aforementioned conductor, same musicians, but the ii performances sound like ii unlike orchestras. Why? The room. Change the room, and you change the musical result. Taking this one pace further, nosotros can even say that the room is an integral part of the performance. But where does the audio of the performer end and the sound of the room begin?
Our music rooms, whether large concert halls or smaller spaces in the home, can help or hinder our performance. Besides large a room tin can strip our sound of free energy and resonance, while besides small a space can cause sonic overload, making the sound muddy, harsh, and overbearing. To enable an instrument built to fill a slap-up concert hall to also work in much smaller domestic spaces and studios requires proper planning. Do you want to practice in an environs in which clarity of audio is more important than volume and resonance, or practice y'all desire to exist able to play solo and sleeping room-music concerts in your home, in emulation of a minor concert venue? These will require different approaches to room design, and possibly the selection of instrument.
The art of acoustical design for live music is part scientific discipline, part empirical cognition, part musical intuition, and role common sense. I call it an "art" mainly because one has to be artistic when working in a space that needs to exist both sonically and aesthetically pleasing. After all, few piano owners want to run into their living rooms turned into sound laboratories simply to achieve their desired musical goals.
Based on my twenty-v years of experience as an acoustical consultant, too as a professional musician, in this commodity I will tell you about the things you tin can practice yourself to better the acoustical qualities of your piano room. However, if you programme to buy a larger, higher-quality grand piano, I suggest that you consider allocating some additional funds to have your room tuned by an acoustical professional person or by a contractor experienced in the acoustical treatment of modest music rooms. Acoustical treatment techniques have come a long way in recent years, and there are many products that tin be integrated into but near whatever domestic environment without making the room look like a recording studio. I have washed this many times, without sacrificing musical or visual aesthetics.
Piano ROOM ACOUSTICS:HIGHLIGHTS
- For best sound, the full length of the walls of a room containing a piano should ideally be at least 10 times the length of a m piano (or the height of a vertical piano) for solo playing, and 15 times for ensemble playing.
- Opening the doors of the room into adjacent living spaces can heighten the piano's bass clarity; the longer wavelengths of the lower notes crave more space to be heard every bit specific pitches.
- Information technology's all-time to use or design a room in which the short and long wall lengths and ceiling pinnacle are in ratios of 3 or v, not i or 2. Avoid square rooms.
- Practice not position a vertical piano or the tail of a grand in a room corner. Place a vertical piano along the short wall, one-3rd or i-fifth of the way from a corner. Place a grand piano across a corner at a 45° bending to the walls at a distance one-fifth or one-third of the style between diagonal corners.
- Use irregularly shaped objects, wall hangings, and piece of furniture on or along the walls to break up or diffuse hard reflections. Except in very "live" rooms, use absorptive objects such every bit upholstered furniture and heavy draperies only sparingly, to avoid ho-hum the sound.
- Identify a rug under the entire footprint of a k or vertical piano to absorb excess reflected sound.
- If given the opportunity, audition a high-end pianoforte in your room before committing to buying it.
- For best results, consider using the services of an acoustical professional person and/or acoustical handling products to fine-melody your music room.
Room Size
Vertical pianos are designed to work optimally in smaller rooms. They are usually placed up against a wall, and present relatively few bug in the typical domestic environment. The aforementioned is true of small grands. Simply the amount of sonic free energy produced by anything larger than about a 6-foot chiliad tin can present some large problems in smaller rooms. While concert halls and piano showrooms are large enough to allow the audio of a larger grand to properly resonate, small rooms can't blot and then much sound, and will hands overload when the instrument is played full out. Like other fine musical instruments built to be played in big spaces, a big grand sounds best from some altitude away. For instance, stand up next to me when I play my contrabassoon's lowest B-apartment (half a step to a higher place the lowest A on a piano), and while you can physically feel the power of that note, you lot won't exist able to decipher its bodily pitch until you walk several anxiety abroad from the instrument. The aforementioned thing occurs with a double bass, tuba, or pipe organ. At the opposite stop of the scale, a really fine violin won't audio its best until the listener is several feet away, when the sound becomes more resonant, with more than conspicuously defined pitch. This is the situation we face when placing a large piano in a room smaller than it was designed for. While we tin can do many things to merely well-nigh any room to make it more friendly to a big piano, there are limits, dictated by the laws of physics, that we tin can't intermission without paying a price in quality of sound.
How large a piano room needs to be depends on the size of the instrument. Empirical information indicate that the combined length of a room'southward walls (assuming that the room'due south ceiling is 8 feet high) should be at least 10 times the length of a grand or the height of a vertical pianoforte. For example, a 15 by 20-pes room (15+fifteen+20+twenty=70 feet) should conform a 7-foot k. This formula doesn't accept into account openings into other rooms, irregular room shapes, etc., but it's a proficient starting indicate.
Low frequencies have the longest wavelengths and crusade the most problems in smaller rooms because the length of the wave exceeds the largest dimension of the room. The lowest A on a piano has a frequency of 27.5 Hz (cycles per second), which translates into a wavelength of about 41 feet! For this reason, the lower two octaves of a seven-foot grand, having less sonic ability, volition probably sound clearer in a small room than those of a nine-foot instrument in the same space, fifty-fifty though the larger musical instrument has the potential for greater low-bass clarity. This is the same principle that applies when designing audio systems and home theaters. In a smaller room, a smaller loudspeaker that pressurizes less air to reproduce a given frequency will actually sound clearer and deeper than a far bigger speaker in that room, fifty-fifty if the larger speaker'southward bass can get a bit lower in pitch. Therefore, common sense tells usa that putting a total-size ix-foot concert grand into a 12 past 15-foot room with an 8-human foot ceiling will probably not yield the best results without a huge amount of dedicated acoustical handling, and probably not fifty-fifty then.
If your pianoforte room is Fifty-shaped, or opens into another large infinite, this can help your piano's low-octave bass response — the much-longer low-frequency soundwaves tin travel through large open spaces. This is one reason why, in a small room, opening the doors to adjacent rooms tin can often make your piano'due south low octaves sound a bit clearer. (Considering the shorter, loftier-frequency waves tend to bounciness off any flat surface closest to the piano, the extra infinite won't improve their clarity.)
Attempt to avoid square rooms, or rooms with wall lengths and ceiling heights having a relationship of one:1, 1:2, or multiples thereof (for instance, 16 feet long by eight feet broad by 8 feet high). Such rooms exacerbate the buildup of low-frequency coincident modes (resonant frequencies acquired by standing waves), which can brand the lowest octave of your piano sound uneven, overemphasizing some notes while making others near disappear.
Ceiling Height
Greater ceiling meridian is always desirable for resonance, only exist careful with this. Equally mentioned higher up, information technology's all-time that the ceiling top non be the aforementioned equally the length of one of the walls, or that length divided or multiplied by 2 or a multiple of ii. For example, if i wall is 16 anxiety long, the ceiling should not exist 8, 12, or 16 feet high. If your ceiling is more than than one-and-one-tertiary times the length of the shortest wall, you may have a problem of reflected soundwaves that will crave some dedicated acoustical treatments, though not necessarily. I've worked in some rooms with very high ceilings that sounded fabulous, mainly considering the actress headroom helped the low notes sound more full and deep. Information technology all depends on how "live" (resonant) the space is, and exactly which room surfaces are reflecting the sounds of the piano. If you have a sloped ceiling, the best results will likely be achieved by placing a vertical piano against the wall where the ceiling is lowest, or a chiliad piano facing out from the aforementioned wall and into the area where the ceiling is highest.
Where to Identify the Piano in the Room
[Note: Moving a piano tin can exist unsafe. Accept professional movers present to avert injury to persons or damage to the pianoforte and floors.]
Try not to push button the tail of a grand, or the end of a vertical, all the way into a corner of the room. While doing so might give the lowest octave more than power (low frequencies are boosted by next wall and floor surfaces), pitch clarity and tonal evenness will suffer. The hard sound reflections coming off both corner walls can also kicking dorsum into the player'due south ears a lot of high-frequency "hash." Vertical pianos are best placed confronting a room'due south short wall, with the center of the piano one-fifth or one-third of that wall's length from the nearest corner. Effort the instrument in both locations, listening for evenness of tone across the scale. Then slowly move information technology, a few inches at a time, in either direction to fine-tune the sound for clarity.
Finding the right spot in the room for a grand piano involves some effort but is not difficult. Begin with the piano near a corner of the room; if possible, position it with the long side beyond the corner at a 45° angle to the walls, with the open lid facing out into the room toward the diagonally contrary corner. This will continue both ends of the piano equidistant to the walls and corner backside the instrument, enhancing evenness of tone throughout the piano's frequency range.
At present, mensurate the distance between the corner behind the piano and the diagonally opposite corner. And so, keeping the piano at a 45° bending, move the piano one-5th of that distance out from the corner, in the same direction you but measured. Open up the lid and play scales through the instrument's entire range, listening for even tonal quality and clarity of pitch. And then move the piano farther in the same management, until information technology'southward at present one-tertiary of the way out from the corner. Play it again. Then, placing the piano in the best-sounding location of the two, slide it, in very small increments, back toward the wall closest to the keyboard end of the piano, maintaining the 45° angle, and playing the same scales after every change in position. And then, once you detect the "sweet spot," begin slowly rotating the pianoforte by moving the keyboard end very slightly, a few inches at a time, in either management, playing the same scales every time. This procedure can have some fourth dimension, but information technology's well worth the effort, and non equally hard as it sounds. You'll probably be amazed at how big a departure very small changes in position can make in the way your piano interacts with the room boundaries. While this may non solve all of your room issues, I accept all the same to find a situation where it didn't significantly assistance.
Reflection, Improvidence, Absorption
Sound behaves in much the same way as light. Smooth a flashlight at a mirror in a night room, and a hard glare will be reflected right dorsum into your eyes. Smooth the same flashlight onto a frosted piece of glass, and yous'll notice that the light is evenly distributed in a pleasing circumvolve on the surface of the drinking glass, which volition too reflect more than low-cal around the dark room than the mirror did. Apply this to music in an enclosed infinite, and you lot can understand why improvidence — the random handful of sound — is far better than hard reflection. The latter makes the music itself sound hard and brittle, while diffusion provides clarity, warmth, and an evenness of sound throughout the room. And because diffusion more than evenly distributes high- and mid-frequency audio throughout a room, it adds greatly to musical clarity.
Absorption is useful in reducing the amount of sonic energy in a room. Many people make the fault of cutting down reflections past boring their music rooms with heavy draperies, thick carpets, and overstuffed article of furniture. However, this will not absorb all frequencies evenly, and tin can make a room sound dull in the upper octaves and too heavy in the bass — or the other way around. While in "live" rooms some absorption is desirable, even necessary, I suggest a combination of absorption and improvidence. This tin can be done by placing books, bookcases, artworks, chairs, and other randomly shaped objects along the walls to break up reflections, equally well as scattering around the room some soft surfaces, such as upholstered article of furniture. Some of the best music rooms have by and large hard surfaces with little absorption, but they all have many deviating surfaces that break up the reflections, which keeps the sound live, warm, and resonant. Partially closed wooden blinds or other irregularly shaped treatments for windows and drinking glass doors will help diffuse reflections coming off of those glass surfaces. Note that flat artworks, fifty-fifty when not covered with glass, can cause degrading reflections unless they have a very irregular diffusive surface. Textile wall hangings, especially quilts and other thick, soft, irregular surfaces, tin absorb a lot of high-frequency reflections, when used in moderation — but not heavy drapes, unless the room is especially "live" and reverberant.
Edifice A DEDICATED MUSIC ROOM
When edifice a music room, it's best to employ multiples and divisions of 3 or 5 for interior dimensions (rather than 1, ii, or multiples of ii). For example, let'due south say you plan to purchase a Steinway model B thou, which is half-dozen feet 10 1/2 inches long (I'll round that off to 7 anxiety for purposes of discussion). Applying the principle that the full wall length should be at to the lowest degree x times the length of the piano, this gives us a minimum total wall length needed of seventy feet (10 10 7). If we have ane-fifth of 70 anxiety (=14 feet) for each of the two short walls, that would leave 42 anxiety, or 21 feet each, for the two long walls. The ceiling meridian would be calculated as ane-5th of 21 feet (the long wall), x 2 = viii.four feet. Therefore if your room is approximately xiv feet by 21 feet past eight.4 feet loftier, the piano should sound good, particularly for practice purposes. However, if you want a room in which you can perform for others on the aforementioned piano, or play chamber music with your colleagues, I suggest that your minimum total wall length be 15 times the length of the instrument. This could give you room dimensions of 21 feet by 31.five feet by 12.6 feet high.
These specific proportions are offered simply as examples. Unless yous're edifice your room from the ground up as a dedicated pianoforte studio, you may non exist able to strictly adhere to this formula. If your chosen piano room doesn't come close to any optimal proportions (using the iii and 5 multiply/partition formula, you tin can come up up with quite a few), all is not lost. It might accept a little more time to get the sound right, with the possible improver of some acoustical treatments to absorb ancillary low-frequency room modes. But the larger the room, the less critical of an issue this becomes.
If you're edifice your piano room from scratch, I suggest you consider making all of the interior walls nonparallel, in society to avoid the typicalflutter echo oft produced in small and medium-size rooms with parallel walls. Splaying the walls (sort of like a trapezoid) at angles of five° to 10° tin exercise a lot to forbid flutter. You'll inappreciably notice that the room isn't a perfect rectangle, and it volition sound a lot ameliorate.
Something else to consider when building a dedicated pianoforte studio: Don't make the inside walls of the room too stiff past using several layers of gypsum drywall or similar textile. The interior walls of your music room should be able to flex a picayune flake to allow them to resonate — similar the skins of a huge drum — and absorb the depression frequencies produced by a larger pianoforte in a smaller room. The more than the walls can flex, the more backlog audio energy they tin can absorb. For walls, apply one or two layers of drywall assail 16-inch centered wood studs (or metallic studs, in most loftier-rise and commercial construction). If you need to acoustically isolate your piano room from the rest of the house, build an additional, heavier, outer wall separated from the inner wall by at least vi inches of air space. Append your music-room ceiling from the ceiling joists using "Z-channels" or a like arrangement, and then that it, as well, tin can flex a bit.
Floor Coverings
What y'all put nether your grand piano can make a huge difference in its sound. In designing a music room, whether or not it will contain a pianoforte, I normally specify hard floor surfaces, whether of hardwood, ceramic tile, or marble. The centre of the flooring should be covered with an acoustically absorbent surface, such equally a rug or carpeting. The thought here is to have sound assimilation in the central function of the floor to cut down on reflections, while keeping the edges of the room more "live" for resonance. If the best-sounding location for your piano is not far enough out into the room for the instrument to exist placed on the carpet or rug, place nether the piano a separate surface area rug large plenty to embrace the pianoforte's entire footprint. The lesser of a grand piano's soundboard produces a great deal of sound that a hard floor will reflect, thus making the audio harsh and breakable — unless something is there to help absorb that energy. If you lot don't mind how it looks, yous can shop piles or boxes of music or recordings on the flooring straight under the piano, which will provide assimilation and diffusion. In very "live" rooms, a thick fabric comprehend (similar to a full pianoforte encompass) can be suspended under the instrument's soundboard. This is especially useful in practice rooms, where clarity is more of import than generating a large sound.
Vertical pianos, normally placed confronting or near walls, don't interact with hard floor surfaces as intimately as practise grands. However, if your vertical is in the center of a very "alive" space, such equally a dance studio or theater rehearsal room, information technology can benefit from some sort of floor covering under information technology that extends a few anxiety out from the piano on all sides. If a vertical's audio is still too resonant or bright, whether the piano is up against a wall or out in the middle of the room, y'all can eliminate some of this by hanging a heavy fabric comprehend or blanket over the back of the instrument. Not very stylish, but it works.
Some high-cease piano dealers volition give yous fourth dimension to audition an musical instrument in your home or studio before you brand a final commitment to buy. I strongly recommend taking advantage of any such offer — the room in which you identify your pianoforte is every bit of import as the musical instrument itself in determining the ultimate sound.
Baby Grand Piano Placement in a Small Room
Source: https://www.pianobuyer.com/article/how-to-make-a-piano-room-sound-grand/