Qu. 4 & 5 : ‘Bright’ , ‘Mellow’ , ‘Smooth’, ‘Deep’.

Qu. 4 How do you describe the sound of the Stuart piano
Qu.5 How do you describe the sound of the Steinway piano

The attributes of ‘bright’ ‘mellow’, ‘smooth’, and ‘deep’, established distinctions in the perceptual responses of participants to survey questions 4 & 5. Two attribute groups, one using ‘bright’ and the other using antithesis qualities of ‘bright’ though not ‘dark’ defined majority audience perceptions of the Stuart and Steinway sounds in the responses to questions 4 &5. ‘Bright’ was combined with adjectives establishing a choice of ‘bright’ within the multiple-choice question³⁴⁵ because it was anticipated that both pianos could be perceived as sounding ‘bright’ as neither piano possessed a particularly ‘dark’, or ‘dull’ sound. ‘Bright & clear’ for the Stuart sound and ‘mellow & clear’ for the Steinway sound, were the verbal attributes used most distinctively in the responses to describe the Stuart and Steinway sounds in questions 4 &5. ‘Bright’, yielded a significant response from the audiences in five concert surveys, showing consistently that a higher percentage of the audiences perceived the sound of the Stuart piano to be ‘brighter’ in tone colour than the Steinway. When ‘bright’ was presented as various VAME³⁴⁶ attributes, i.e. ‘bright & clear’ ‘bright & shrill’, participants responded using ‘bright’ as majority above 50% descriptor for the Stuart piano tone, and as a below 50% descriptor for Steinway piano tone, establishing a wide differential of the perception that the Stuart sound is ‘brighter’ than Steinway. ‘Shrill’ is an attribute that is not used as a complementary description of tone, derived from glossary 14, which denotes A. Oorebeeck’s description of a piano sound as being too ‘percussive’ or ‘shrill’.³⁴⁷ ‘Mellow & clear’ and ‘smooth & deep’ yielded majority responses as descriptors of the Steinway sound for questions 4 & 5 in concerts 1,2,3,5 & 6.

Responses to questions 4 &5 indicated that the larger venues produced wider differentiated perceptions of the Stuart sound as ‘bright’ and the Steinway sound as ‘mellow’ and ‘smooth’. 80% of the participants perceived the sound of the Stuart to be ‘brighter than Steinway and 71% of participants perceived the Steinway sound to be more ‘smooth & deep’ than Stuart in the larger venues of concerts 1 & 2. In the smaller venues, the differential was less, with 69% of participants perceiving the Stuart sound to be ‘brighter’. Overall, 76% perceived the Steinway sound to be more ‘mellow’ than Stuart in the larger venues, concerts 1,2,& 4,and 67% perceived the Steinway sound to be more ‘mellow and clear’ than Stuart in the smaller venues, concerts 3,5, & 6. An opposite perception was received at concert No5, where 100% of the written comments described the Steinway sound as having a ‘brighter’

³⁴⁵Verbal Attribute Magnitude Estimate,
³⁴⁶ibid
^{347     4}Oorebeek ,71.