Prepared Piano Guide: How Does a Prepared Piano Work?

A prepared piano is one in which various objects have been inserted to create percussive effects and unusual timbres. Avant-garde classical music composer John Cage invented the prepared piano technique for his 1940 dance piece Bacchanale. His goal was to create percussive music using only a grand piano.

John Cage's prepared piano technique has inspired other composers to modify piano strings. From German pianist Hauschka to avant-garde rocker John Cale of the Velvet Underground, many post-Cage musicians have used his techniques to manipulate the sound of the piano.

In a prepared piano, individual piano strings are partially muted or altered by objects that a player or composer inserts into the piano. Such objects may include erasers, coins, screws, and bits of plastic. These interact with the mallets and dampers already present in the piano.

The effect of a prepared piano is unlike anything else in Western music, and the sounds that emanate from the piano can surprise even the player or a composer. A prepared piano player can follow notated sheet music or engage in improvisation. Both techniques can bring out the breadth of the instrument.

Music historians credit John Cage, an American composer based in Los Angeles and later New York, with inventing the prepared piano. Cage was inspired by his teacher Henry Cowell, who used plucking and strumming techniques in his piano music but did not insert physical objects into the instrument.

Cage developed his prepared piano technique when serving as an accompanist for the dancer Syvilla Fort. Tasked with writing percussive music but with only a grand piano at his disposal, Cage tried inserting small objects into the instrument to give it a more percussive sound. He called the resulting work Bacchanale. Decades later, Richard Bunger's 1973 text The Well-Prepared Piano documented the creation of a prepared piano and the role it played in Cage's work.

Consult these works to gain understanding and appreciation of the prepared piano technique.

1. 1. Bacchanale by John Cage (1940): Considered the first prepared piano piece, this work was composed to make the piano a percussive instrument that could accompany dancer Syvilla Fort.
2. 2. Sonatas and Interludes by John Cage (1946–48): While Bacchanale was Cage's first foray into the prepared piano technique, Sonatas and Interludes was the composer's highly conscious attempt to incorporate the instrument into his music. Cage's notes for the piece involve clear instructions about preparing the piano, along with the stipulation that the instrument should eventually be "unprepared" with no damage or lasting alterations.
3. 3. "Little Fishes" by Brian Eno (1975): Producer, composer, and performer Brian Eno manipulated a studio piano to unleash new timbres from the instrument on the song "Little Fishes" from the record Another Green World.
4. 4. Drukqs by Aphex Twin (2001): Richard D. James, who records as Aphex Twin, is best known for electronic music, but on this 2001 record, he uses a prepared piano on multiple tracks.
5. 5. The Prepared Piano by Hauschka (2005): The Prepared Piano is a full record of prepared piano works by acclaimed German pianist and composer Hauschka.

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