Chords for Creating Una Corda - Nils Frahm and David Klavins | Native Instruments

[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ My personal philosophy of piano building [Am] _ is to create a sound that [D] inspires pianists and
musicians to play beautiful music.
_ In my [F] view of the world of sounds, music has to appeal to the soul and to the heart, not
to the brain alone. _ _
_ _ [Am] Pianists should have some sounds to choose from.
Just think of guitars.
There are small guitars, big guitars, electric [F] guitars, some with six strings, some with
twelve, all kinds of different guitars, for example.
[C] But in the world of piano, [F] _
there's pretty much only one [G] type of piano, and they are
all [A] very comparable.
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
During my education as a piano builder, I [G] was told that the [F] pianos [Fm] that are existing
are the [F] best that could have been made, and of course there are some well-known brands.
Maybe [D] I don't need to mention, everybody knows what's supposed to be the best piano.
_ _ And when [Am] I began to work myself on pianos, I ran into all kinds of trouble [C] that was design [F]-related,
construction-related.
That was the starting point for me to start pondering and wondering how could it be done better.
_ _ [Am] _ The basic idea of the Una Accorda came to my mind quite a long time ago because so many
people that I experienced as my clients would ask for a softer sounding piano.
[C] _ _ _ _
The first time I heard about David Clavin's [F] was probably in 2012 or 2013, where I saw
a picture of his [Am] tall piano, the _ M370.
_ And then we scheduled a recording session _
[F] for January 2014.
That was the first time I met [C] David Clavin in person.
_ [F] _ We sat down at the Italian [G] pizza place [Am] and were discussing pianos, and then somebody
was starting about this kind of one string per note idea, [G] and then it was like, yeah,
I had the [D] same, yeah, [F] yeah, I love this too.
_ And so we found out in that moment that people were really intrigued by the idea of [C] having
a piano with only one string per note.
_ _ The result of this discussion was that Neil [G] said, I want to have such a piano, [Am] please
make it if you can.
And that was what I needed, of course, [C] somebody who pushes for such an instrument that I had
[Dm] in mind [C] conceptually, but not in [Am] detail.
I asked him if he thought it would [Em] be doable, and he always [F] says everything is possible.
And so [C] I gave him the job to build [Am] one, to start building one just for me.
[C] And a couple months [G] later, there it [F] was.
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_ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ When you see normal piano, it's [D] covered by usually black wood.
And I was always wondering, even when I was a kid, like, why would they build a [F] loud piano
to just cover it with wood in the next step?
It doesn't make any sense to me.
And so the Unaccorda ended up being absolutely [Am] naked.
We were already discussing that there should be something where you could put some felt
between the [F] hammers and the keys, which I would usually do on the upright pianos.
[C] We knew already the piano would be [F] quieter, but I was even asking for that option [G] to make
it [Em] even more quiet.
[A] And so there is [Am] a very nice system how you can mount different types of fabric [G] to a piece
of metal, [D] and [Fm] you can change the pieces [F] of fabric to other types of fabric, from [Fm] thinner
to thicker types.
_ _ And [Dm] this way you get in one [D] instrument, like, five, [F#] six, seven different sounds. _
Then I also put [C] pickups inside the piano, [F] which cover the whole range of the instrument,
from the lowest string to the highest.
And the pickup just sits closely behind the string.
_ And I [Am] mix _ that pickup with some microphones, which have a different sound.
And then I mix the sound of the pickup with the microphones and _ [Cm] the felt.
_ And of course, the way I play the piano.
_ I [F] think all these factors create a very [D#m] own distinct sound.
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I was very, very, very positively surprised by its playability.
It really felt like [C#] a brilliant new instrument.
It was so nice, _ first time in my life to have kind of like a [D#] new piano. _ _
_ _ _ It kind of sits in between a clavichord, a guitar, a [D#m] harp, and that was exactly what I [F#] wanted. _ _ _
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