Piano octave stretching grows with pitch as strings shorten
Evidence
Inharmonicity on a piano increases as the strings become shorter, and therefore the octave stretching effect increases with note pitch. The stretching effect is usually related to middle C, and it becomes greater the further away the note of interest is in pitch. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1097
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: Relevant to tuning theory from chapter 3; this is the perceptual consequence chain for equal temperament.
Related
- Octave stretching on pianos emerges directly from string inharmonicity (similarity 0.96)
- Hammer impact speed and mass trade off to shape a piano’s tone (similarity 0.91)
- Piano octaves are stretched because lower notes’ overtones are inharmonic (similarity 0.91)
- Real piano strings force a stretched tuning to avoid audible beats (similarity 0.88)
- Finite wire thickness raises higher piano partials, producing stretched harmonics (similarity 0.86)
- Pianos are stretch-tuned so low notes sit flat and high notes sharp (similarity 0.86)
- Stretched partials give the piano its characteristic musical color (similarity 0.86)
- Slightly mistuned piano strings produce richer, longer-lasting sound (similarity 0.85)
- Even the perfect octave is routinely violated in piano tuning (similarity 0.83)
- Moisture, cracking, and tension drift make every grand piano uniquely voiced over its lifetime (similarity 0.82)
- Real strings show slightly sharp partials because tight curvature stiffens them like bars (similarity 0.82)
- Piano tuning stretched so far it has become a required sound (similarity 0.81)
- A string’s stiffness raises its higher-frequency modes above the ideal values (similarity 0.81)
- Physically correct octaves actually cause audible beats in a real piano (similarity 0.80)
- Inconsistent octave stretching that leaves partials linear is jarringly unpleasant (similarity 0.80)