INTRODUCTION

Ch. I. MUSICAL TONE [Harmonic oscillations. Sound propagation. Noise. Intensity, frequency, spectrum. Loudness, pitch, timbre. Formants. Transients. Inharmonicity. Combination tones and beats. Subsensory sounds.]

Ch. II. EQUIPMENT FOR SOUND ANALYSIS [Transducers of movement parameters. Analysis of temporal parameters. Measurement of spectral parameters.]

Ch. III. SOUND PRODUCING. KEY ACTION [Sound producing and energy balance in a piano. Function and principles of a key action. Linear and angle relationships in a key action. Inertia and flexibility.]

Ch. IV. HAMMER [Hammer-string interaction. Design. Stiffness. Hammer felt. Equipment for making hammers. Technology. Felt quality. Voicing. Objective estimation of the hammer quality.]

Ch. V. STRINGS [String wire. Wrapped strings. Fundamental frequency of string vibrations. Inharmonicity of string modes.]

Ch. VI. SOUNDBOARD [Soundboard as "tone amplifier". Wood for soundboards. Design. Strings downbearing and pressure. Cupola. Fixation of edges. "Tuning" of soundboard.]

Ch. VII. SELECTED OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE ASPECTS OF THE PIANO TONE QUALITY [Specificity of a tone produced by unison strings. Peculiarities of the sound producing and quality in the treble range. Psychological aspects of the tone quality estimation. Touch.

SUMMARY: Several recommendations to an experimenter.

REFERENCES