A study of the influence of room acoustics on piano performance

Abstract
This study attempts to describe the behaviour of a pianist playing the same piece of music in different acoustics. An experiment was organized in march 1993 using carefully controlled experimental conditions. In the variable acoustics of the "Espace de Projection" at Ircam (Paris), seven professional pianists playing on a Disklavier MIDI grand piano were recorded with synchronous digital audio and midi systems. From these data a statistical analysis was performed in order to evaluate to what extent performance attributes are correlated to the perceptual dimensions of room acoustics. The strategy of experimentation, the acoustical realization, the measurements and the methodology of the statistical analysis are described.