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Topic: Una corde (Read 947 times) previous topic - next topic

Una corde

I am currently working on Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 and on page 7 comes the instruction "una corde." On a piano this means pressing the left or "soft" pedal which moves the strings so higher notes which are usually played on 3 strings at once are now played on one string (in Italian una corde), but how can I do this with NWC?
Any help would be much appreciated.

Re: Una corde

Reply #1 –
A friend of mine asked me the same question last week.
The only solution we found, excluding using special soundfonts, is to simply lower the volume.
Unsatisfactory, I know...

P.S. "Una corda", not "una corde". ("corde" is plural while "una" means "one")

Re: Una corde

Reply #2 –
If you mean by "do this"
  • "how to notate" this - just write, as in the original score, "una corda" (ok, that's probably obvious);
  • "how to make it sound like that", then the question is, first, of course: "What is that una corda sound?" - I have not played too many upper-class pianos, but as I understand it it's a more mellow sound, and typically also with less volume (although you could hit the keys very hard in an una corda passage). Possibility 1: Typical piano soundfonts get more mellow when playing with less velocity; so reduce the velocity (with a dynamic with suitably chosen velocity) until you get the sound you want; and then adjust the channel volume (with an MPC) so that is as loud as you want. Possibility 2: If you find a piano sound font with an una corda bank, you can switch to that bank (with an Instrument Change).

H.M.
 

Re: Una corde

Reply #3 –
Well, I'm just glad to know what una corda indicates now! I didn't know until today, although if I had thought about it I might have come up with it. Thanks for the answered question I didn't know I had!
I love learning things like this here.