THE FORM OF A PIANO
Form should follow and be descriptive of function. The form of a piano should reflect an understanding of both the mechanical and aesthetic motives underlying its production and use.
The primary purpose of the instrument is to be heard, by the performer and by the audience. Sound emanates from both the top and the bottom of the sounding board. These two factors aid in developing my mechanical parameters.
Visual parameters can be meaningfully determined by music. My aesthetic motive is to create an instrument that looks like what it sounds like - a coincidence of melodic sound and visual form.
-George Denninger

Upright Plano
Brazilian Mahogany
Original works: Mason & Hamlin
Cabinet completed: Fall 1977

I was inspired to do this piano after completing a commission to rebuild and modify the cabinet of an old Knabe. The original boxy cabinet did not seem related to the character of the instrument's tone or to the form of the music it was capable of producing. In addition, the foot and music board smothered the sound.

My motive was to design a piano that relates tone and music to visual form. I also wished to improve the acoustic projection capability through better cabinet design.
The completed instrument was thoroughly tested by Joseph Cacheiro, Baldwin's tone man for thirty years and Claudio Arrau's personal tuner. He stated that this instrument was the best upright piano he had ever heard. It has since been played and appraised highly be several notable pianists.

The Upright Piano has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Music of Art (1885-86) the Philadelphia Armory (1983), the McFall Center Gallery (Bowling Green, Ohio, 1982), the Rhinebeck American Crafts Fair (Rhinebeck, New York, 1982), Detrich's Pianos (New York City, 1980), the Smithsonian Institution's Renwick Gallery (1979), the Kleinert Gallery (Woodstock, New York, 1977), and at the Bear Mountain (New York) Inn Gallery (1977).