Action (piano)

The piano action mechanism, or the key action mechanism, or simply the action of a piano or other musical keyboards, is the mechanical assembly which translates the depression of the keys into rapid motion of a hammer, which creates sound by striking the strings. Action can refer to that of a piano or other musical keyboards, including the electronic or digital stage piano and synthesizer, on which some models have "weighted keys", which simulate the touch and feel of an acoustic piano. The design of the key action mechanism determines the "weighted keys" feeling; that is, the feeling of the heaviness of the touch of the keys."A professional pianist is likely to care most about the piano's action, because that is what controls its responsiveness and relative lightness--or heaviness--of touch. Roughly speaking, a piano's action is light when its keys fall easily under the fingers, and heavy when a noticeable downward thrust is required. The action, in short, is what makes a piano playable or not to an individual musician."

Combat

Combat or fighting is a purposeful violent conflict meant to weaken, establish dominance over, or kill the opposition, or to drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed.

The term combat (French for fight) typically refers to armed conflict between opposing military forces in warfare, whereas the more general term "fighting" can refer to any physical or verbal conflict between individuals or nations. Combat violence can be unilateral, whereas fighting implies at least a defensive reaction. A large-scale fight is known as a battle. A verbal fight is commonly known as an argument.

Background

Combat may take place under a specific set of rules or be unregulated. Examples of rules include the Geneva Conventions (covering the treatment of people in war), medieval chivalry, the Marquess of Queensberry rules (covering boxing) and several forms of combat sports.

Combat in warfare involves two or more opposing military organizations, usually fighting for nations at war (although guerrilla warfare and suppression of insurgencies can fall outside this definition). Warfare falls under the laws of war, which govern its purposes and conduct, and protect the rights of combatants and non-combatants.

Drassi

Drassi (Greek: Δράση; English: Action) is a liberal minor political party in Greece. The party was founded in 2009 by Stefanos Manos and is led by former New Democracy member Theodoros Skylakakis. The party has no representation in the Hellenic Parliament or European Parliament. Drassi is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) party.

History

Stefanos Manos left New Democracy (ND) in 1999 to found The Liberals, before later running on ND and Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) electoral lists in 2000 and 2004 respectively. Unlike The Liberals, Drassi was not founded as an expressly liberal party, but claims to espouse "common sense" as an ideological basis.

In its first contested election, the 2009 European elections, Drassi finished ninth with 0.8% of the vote. It subsequently did not participate in the general election in October 2009.

In the May 2012 legislative election, Drassi ran in electoral alliance with the Liberal Alliance. It won 1.8% of the vote finishing twelfth overall, directly behind the Democratic Alliance and Recreate Greece, which both had similar liberal ideologies to Drassi. Ahead of new elections in June 2012 legislative election, Drassi and the Liberal Alliance formed an electoral pact with Recreate Greece, while the Democratic Alliance, which they had also approached, refused to join them and ran on the New Democracy list instead.

Action (EP)

Action is the first mini-album by South Korean Boy band NU'EST. It was released on July 11, 2012 under Pledis Entertainment.

Background and release

On June 27, 2012, it was announced that NU’EST will make a comeback on Mid-July with a new album. On July 1, the album jacket photo as well as the release date of their new mini-album was revealed. The teaser video for the title track Action was released on YouTube on July 5, and features the members in individually themed settings, with action-filled shots and heart-pounding music; this was followed by another teaser on July 8. The full music video was released on July 10, 2012.

Promotion

The group made a comeback performance with their title track Action on Mnet’s M! Countdown on its July 12 episode. This was followed by a comeback performance on KBS Music Bank, MBC’s Music Core and SBS’ Inkigayo.

On August 2, 2012, it was announced that the group would conclude promotions for Action and will continue with their third single, Not Over You. The full music video was release on August 12, 2012.

Piano

The piano (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjaːno]; an abbreviation of pianoforte [pjanoˈfɔrte]) is a musical instrument played using a keyboard. It is widely employed in classical, jazz, traditional and popular music for solo and ensemble performances, accompaniment, and for composing and rehearsal. Although the piano is not portable and often expensive, its versatility and ubiquity have made it one of the world's most familiar musical instruments.

An acoustic piano usually has a protective wooden case surrounding the soundboard and metal strings, and a row of 88 black and white keys (52 white, 36 black). The strings are sounded when the keys are pressed, and silenced when the keys are released. The note can be sustained, even when the keys are released, by the use of pedals.

Pressing a key on the piano's keyboard causes a padded (often with felt) hammer to strike strings. The hammer rebounds, and the strings continue to vibrate at their resonant frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a soundboard that amplifies by more efficiently coupling the acoustic energy to the air. When the key is released, a damper stops the strings' vibration, ending the sound. Although an acoustic piano has strings, it is usually classified as a percussion instrument because the strings are struck rather than plucked (as with a harpsichord or spinet); in the Hornbostel-Sachs system of instrument classification, pianos are considered chordophones. With technological advances, electric, electronic, and digital pianos have also been developed.

Dynamics (music)

In music, dynamics are instructions in musical notation to the performer about hearing the loudness of a note or phrase. More generally, dynamics may also include other aspects of the execution of a given piece.

Relative loudness

The two basic dynamic indications in music are:

More subtle degrees of loudness or softness are indicated by:

Beyond f and p, there are also

And so on.

Some pieces contain dynamic designations with more than three f's or p's. In Holst's The Planets, ffff occurs twice in Mars and once in Uranus often punctuated by organ and fff occurs several times throughout the work. It also appears in Heitor Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4 (Prelude), and in Liszt's Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam". The Norman Dello Joio Suite for Piano ends with a crescendo to a ffff, and Tchaikovsky indicated a bassoon solo pppppp in his Pathétique Symphony and ffff in passages of his 1812 Overture and the 2nd movement of his Fifth Symphony.

Piano four hands

Piano four hands (French: À quatre mains, German: Zu vier Händen, Vierhändig, Italian: a quattro mani) is a type of piano duet in which the two players play on a single piano. A duet with the players playing separate instruments is generally referred to as a piano duo.

Music written for piano four hands is usually printed so that the part for each player occupies the page which is directly opposite to him. The upper part, for the pianist sitting on the right and with the music on the right side of the page, is called primo, while the lower part, for the pianist on the left, is called secondo.

Repertoire

Arrangements

By far the greater proportion of music "à quatre mains" consists of arrangements of orchestral and vocal compositions and of quartets and other groups for stringed instruments. Indeed, scarcely any composition of importance for any combination of instruments exists which has not been arranged and published in this form, which on account of its comparative facility of performance is calculated to reproduce the characteristic effects of such works more readily and faithfully than arrangements for piano solo. Such arrangements were especially popular before the development of recording technology, as the vast majority of the time there would be no other way to hear many of the best-known works of music.