Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hpfcso!mjs
From: mjs@hpfcso.HP.COM (Marc Sabatella)
Newsgroups: comp.music
Subject: Re: piano vibrato
Message-ID: <7180004@hpfcso.HP.COM>
Date: 13 Dec 89 23:46:13 GMT
References: <49138@bbn.COM>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Lines: 14

>What I'm seeking is not an answer to how to get a piano vibrato _sound_,
>but rather a sincere answer to how to do this without electronics.  Someone
>told me that it was possible.  Some of the replies were amusing,
>but unfortunately I got no serious answer.

A serious, but probably flawed answer:

If, while holding a key down, you move your hand side to side, on most pianos
this will cause the hammer, still suspended over the string, to move side to
side as well.  Theoretically the air column reflected off the moving hammer
could cause the string to modulate slightly.  I doubt this would produce a
noticeable effect; I know *I* don't notice it on *my* piano.

Marc