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Prepared piano

A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. Its invention is usually traced to John Cage's dance music for Bacchanale (1940), created for a performance in a Seattle venue that lacked sufficient space for a percussion ensemble. Cage has cited Henry Cowell as an inspiration for developing piano extended techniques, involving strings within a piano being manipulated instead of the keyboard. Typical of Cage's practice as summed up in the Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48) is that each key of the piano has its own characteristic timbre, and that the original pitch of the string will not necessarily be recognizable. Further variety is available with use of the una corda pedal.

Ferrante & Teicher between 1950 and 1980 used partially prepared pianos for some of their tunes in their albums. Other musicians, such as Denman Maroney use prepared piano for performances, whereas Cor Fuhler and Roger Miller have developed their own ways of using prepared piano in their musical albums. Additionally, notable contributors to the subsequent repertoire include Lou Harrison, Pauline Oliveros, James Tenney, and Christian Wolff.[1]


When a properly prepared piano has been "unprepared", it should be impossible for anyone to tell that it had ever been prepared.[2] Changes causing less easily reversible damage can be served by permanently dedicating an instrument, such as the tack piano. Other techniques related to prepared piano include the Acoustisizer.

Historical precedents[edit]

Cage frequently cited Henry Cowell (1897–1965) as the primary inspiration for the prepared piano.[3] Cowell pioneered piano extended techniques for what he dubbed "string piano", involving reaching inside the piano and pluck, sweep, scrape, thump, and otherwise manipulate the strings directly, rather than using the keyboard. He developed these techniques in numerous pieces such as Aeolian Harp (1923) and The Banshee (1925).[4] Pieces of paper were called for in several early 20c works, the buzzing effect reminiscent of the parchment 'bassoon' pedal of early fortepianos. In his Ragamalika (1912–22), based on the classical music of India, French composer Maurice Delage (1879–1961) calls for a piece of cardboard to be placed under the B♭ in the second line of the bass clef to dampen the sound, imitating the sound of an Indian drum.[5][6]


In his Chôros No. 8, a 1925 work for large orchestra, Heitor Villa-Lobos instructs the 2nd pianist to insert pieces of paper between the strings [7] Maurice Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges (1920-1925) calls for Luthéal, but allows piano with paper to substitute.[8]

were an American piano duo who produced over a hundred albums of light classical and popular "easy listening" in their long careers (1947–1992). Between 1950 and 1980 they included partially prepared pianos on a number of their tunes to add percussive effects.[10]

Ferrante & Teicher

On "" from The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), John Cale prepared his piano with a chain of paper clips.[11]

All Tomorrow's Parties

On his 1968 album Blues Roots, prepared a piano by laying copper strips across the strings to give the song "Blues Roots" a honky-tonk sound.[12]

Dave Brubeck

performs on what he has dubbed 'hyperpiano', which "involves stopping, sliding, bowing, plucking, striking and strumming the strings with copper bars, aluminum bowls, rubber blocks, plastic boxes and other household objects."[13]

Denman Maroney

pioneered many inside piano techniques during the 1980s and recorded his first prepared piano solo album 7CC IN IO on GeestGronden in 1995; recorded The Hands of Caravaggio with John Tilbury and M.I.M.E.O. on the USA label Erstwhile Records; and in 2007 he released Stengam on the French label Potlatch.[14]

Cor Fuhler

Since 1982, has developed his own take on prepared piano in his work, initially on Mission of Burma's single "Trem II". Miller has since released many albums (on labels including Ace of Hearts, SST, New Alliance, Atavistic and Matador) incorporating this technique. His concert hall compositions since 2009 have often utilized prepared piano.[15][16][17]

Roger Miller

On his 1975 album , composer Brian Eno employed prepared piano on the track "Little Fishes".[18] He also played it on David Bowie's Lodger (1979) album.[19]

Another Green World

aka Volker Bertelmann, employed prepared piano techniques in his album The Prepared Piano in 2005.[20][21]

Hauschka

Several compositions from the 2001 album Drukqs make use of prepared piano.[22]

Aphex Twin

The third movement of wind symphony, Wine-Dark Sea, utilizes piano prepared with glass rods.[23] The combination of the glass rods, as well as a spoon scraped over the strings, work to create a dissonant "fingernails on chalkboard," setting the scene of Odysseus in the underworld.[24]

John Mackey's

while on tour under the moniker Lingua Ignota, has performed on a piano prepared with forks, clothes pins, fishing wire with heavy rosin, bells, chains, and a clamp lamp.[25][26]

Kristin Hayter

an American composer and producer makes extensive use of prepared piano techniques on her 2017 album Bloodroot.

Kelly Moran

No objects are inserted into or onto the strings;

The strings' original pitches remain perceptible; and

The preparation is not fully reversible.

Fortepiano

Luthéal

Prepared guitar

Prepared harp

String piano

(1973). The Well-Prepared Piano (1981 ed.). Colorado Springs: Colorado College Music Press. ISBN 978-0-94061-200-6. The foreword by John Cage evolved into the essay "How the Piano Came to be Prepared".

Bunger, Richard

Fürst-Heidtmann, Monika (1979). Das präparierte Klavier des John Cage. Gustav Bose Verlag Regensburg.  978-3-7649-2183-5.

ISBN

Dianova, Tzenka (2008). John Cage's Prepared Piano: The Nuts & Bolts. Mutasis Books Victoria.  978-0-9809657-0-4.

ISBN

by Andreas Busk. Site includes free downloadable prepared piano sampler for Ableton Live, NI's Kontakt and Logic's EXS Sampler

'Are You Prepared' 17-key Online Prepared Piano

by Tim Ovens.

The Sound Collector - The Prepared Piano of John Cage

essay by Kyle Gann, includes video performance of preparation by Margaret Leng Tan (here).

If you build it, they will come!

- By Tom Gersic. Some free, others cheap

Prepared Piano Sample Set

- By Dr. Stefan Bilbao, ported to Max/MSP by Thomas Resch

Prepared Piano Max/MSP-Object