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Techniques - Prepared piano

Prepared piano

The prepared piano, as we know from the many gamelan-like pieces by John Cage, often results in microtonality, but it also offers great variation in timbre.


a melody which employs sounds having widely different timbres

Cage, about prepared piano


This category is of course often related to harmonics/multiphonics, since a preparation will touch certain harmonics/ multiphonics nodes, but in addition to the placement of the object, there is a great variety in timbre depending on its material (hardness, weight and size).

One may differenciate between string preparation and surface preparation, and Alan Shockley argues in his book “The Contemporary Piano” that there are also other parts of the instrument that may be prepared.

A ‘string preparation’ is an object that is attached to a string, or placed in between strings. In many cases, one will experience that different pitches sound from each side of the object, and at least one of them will most often be clearly microtonal.
The width of the object is crucial, and it should never bend the strings too much sideways, as this for instance may damage the felt dampers. It is therefore important to find an object that fits, and has the weight needed to produce the required sound.

For ‘surface preparations’, one may use the strings’ vibrations to cause certain light materials laid across the strings to rattle or give the sound a different colour (it could be a piece of paper, plastic, aluminium foil, styrofoam, etc.).
Using heavier materials (of f.ex. rubber, plastic, wood, magnets, etc.) will result in shorter sounds where the hardness will decide whether it will be a round or sharp, hard or clicking sound, or just a thump.

If one wishes to produce a number of different piano sounds, but still let the pianist sit at the keyboard, it is recommended to prepare the piano.

I will not go into further details about prepared piano in this text, but I can mention that there is a large chapter on this topic in Alan Shockley’s book “The Contemporary Piano - A Performer and Composer’s Guide to Techniques and Resources”[1].

For preparations involving gliding objects along the strings, see the 'Glissando along strings' techniques.

Examples of works including this technique:



  1. Alan Shockley, “The Contemporary Piano, A Performer and Composer’s Guide to Techniques and Resources” (Rowman and Littlefield Pub., 2018)