mechanism · 07 · red felt · pear-wood · upright piano
a small block of dense red felt at the end of a slim wooden arm. when no key is pressed, it sits on the wire and prevents speech. a key down lifts the felt; release lays it back. silence is not the absence of the note but the felt remembering it.
without dampeners the instrument would hold every note it had ever played; with them, it holds only what is wanted. one of these is enough to teach the difference between silence and memory, though no piano survives long without all eighty-eight.
field-note · the felt is heavier than it looks. pick it up at the base, not the head.