Emulating sounds on the piano

[DoubleBlade]

Okay stuff which I've come up with based on my observations. Correct me if I'm wrong

Vibrato on violin = thrill on piano

Upward bend on violin = 2 slurred notes of 2 intervals apart upwards (perhaps?) on piano

Downward bend on violin = Ditto but going downwards on piano

Guzheng = Right hand melody and left hand single note staccato runs perhaps?

Since the Erhu strings are tuned to D5 and A5 respectively and is in the D major scale , does it mean I have to play chords instead of single note melodies when emulating on piano?
Just some food for thought because the bow is always touching both strings of the erhu when played and so there are always 2 different notes being played together no matter what.

Or are both strings of the Erhu arched just like a violin which enables the player to play single note melody runs?

All these stuff gathered are all based on my observations gathered when watching different string musicians performing.

So feel free to correct me if I'm wrong and would appreciate it if you all could post up more your techniques to emulating different instruments on the piano.

Cheers

 

[Cheez]

Emulating other instruments on the piano is not just about the notes. The problem is that the piano will always sound like a piano and never sound like another instrument. So to make it "sound" like something else, the only way is simulating techniques (like what you said). And not to forget, even other instruments have various techniques. Some can never be emulated.

Eg: what you mentioned about "bending" on the violins - that can never be done. No matter how you slur the notes on the piano, you can never create the "portamento" effect. Same for vibrato - you can never emulate that. Thrill is a thrill, it is not vibrato. These are limitations we have to accept. Erhu is near impossible to emulate. And no - you don't touch both strings when playing erhu all the time. Most of the time, it's only 1 string as the bow pushes the string being played away from the other string. The erhu is such an expressive instrument that the velocity changes constantly even on a sustain note - that can obviously never be emulated on a piano.

As for Guzheng, you can do what you said. It's probably the most easy to emulate from the list of instruments you mentioned. You cannot, however, emulate the bend they do on individual strings. For glissandos (which is the usual thing to emulate), you just have to play overlapping pentatonic scales, play it smoothly with sustain pedal down.

 

[mingguan]

If I not remember wrongly.
Erhu only play single note.

 

[Cheez]

Yes, you're right. Erhu is monophonic. The bow only touches one string at any one time. Although (speaking from a non-erhu player point of view) I wonder if it is possible if it is bowed at a tilted angle that both strings touch the bow. Even if that is possible, it is not the conventional way of doing it, and will probably produce a terrible scraping sound.

 

[DoubleBlade]

I too am not an erhu player but it's one of the very few chinese instruments which I'm quite intrigued about.

It produces a beautifully sad sound which has sort of attracted my attention in getting to know more about it.

Was at Arts House over the weekend and saw quite a number of musicians playing oriental instruments like the Guzheng , Pipa , Sitar , Malay Drums etc.

The Guzheng seem like an easier choice to emulate in terms of technique but of course if you have classical and contemporary pieces , there are cases in which composers have emulated certain instruments on the piano.

Someone even told me that he heard a pianist emuilating the sound of "rattling bamboos" 8O

Oh and by the way Cheez , what do you mean by overlapping pentatonic scales?

You mean I glassando (assuming C major pentatonic scale) C , D , E then lift my fingers and then glassando G , A , lift up again and repeat the same process over again?

 

[Cheez]

Overlapping means: C3-D3-E3-G3-A3-C4-E3-G3-A3-C4-D4-E4-G3-A3-C4-D4-E4-G4 and so on and so forth. Also works on a descending scale. Can have various variations. The idea is not to play like the standard arppeggios we do for classical pieces. Play it smoothly and not too harsh, with sustain pedal down, you get the "ringing bells" effect.

 

[DoubleBlade]

Thanks for the tip about overlapping pentatonic in different variations. 8)

I wonder how on earth can someone do a rattling baboo effect on the piano. :roll:

 

[zenguan88]

my guess is thats was a recorded articulations? (the rattling bamboo)

 

[Cheez]

No, I don't think doubleblade is talking about samples. Technically speaking, bamboo when hit produces a definite tonal note. So it should be able to be emulated. Playing it on the piano will require a lot of random soft playing (both random notes and random timing), both black and white keys. I can hear it in my head. Definitely possible.

 

[piano_ex]

hi all ... =)

i worked with some very good erhu player, and yes .. they can play double stop (two string together) .. but mostly open string ......