Piano front to back
Light Jazz in the waiting room, Soft Piano in the operatories. Two of Light Jazz's most common styles are piano trios, so the piano carries from the lobby to the chair, with bass and brushes only at the front.
Station
Soft Piano: one acoustic piano and nothing else
Light, flowing tunes in bright major keys over a left hand that keeps gently moving, with no drums, no vocals and no second instrument. Suggested for treatment rooms and the waiting room.
30 second preview
Soft Piano is the eleMusic station with a single instrument: one acoustic piano playing light, flowing tunes in bright major keys, with no drums, no other instruments and no vocals. Its tempo runs 62 to 84 BPM, and it is suggested for both the treatment rooms and the waiting room.
The preview at the top of this page is a separate piece of about 30 seconds, made from the Soft Piano recipe and mastered like the station's tracks, which run longer.
If a single piano suits your treatment rooms and waiting room, start a trial, or hear the other stations first. 14-day trial. Card required, nothing due at checkout.
Soft Piano at a glance
| What | Soft Piano |
|---|---|
| Tempo range | 62 to 84 BPM (median 70) |
| Median track length | 2 min 55 s |
| Keys | Major keys only, by design; the most common are C major, D major, Bb major |
| Most common styles | light and flowing, warm open chords, easy waltz (3/4), hopeful melody |
| Instruments | One acoustic piano |
| Suggested rooms | Treatment rooms and waiting room |
What does the Soft Piano station sound like?
One piano, heard as if in a warm room, with a clear, rounded tone and a soft touch on the keys. The right hand carries a plain tune you could hum back; the left hand plays underneath, rolling through broken chords or holding wide open ones. That left hand is the station's signature: it gives the music a gentle forward motion without a drum.
The four styles heard most often each lean on that idea a little differently. "Light and flowing" tracks ride a rolling left hand with a subtle lilt. "Warm open chords" set a simple tune on top of full, ringing harmony. "Hopeful melody" tracks put the tune first, over warm broken chords. And the "easy waltz" tracks count in three, which gives them a graceful, swaying step.
At a median of 70 BPM, Soft Piano is relaxed but not sleepy: a step quicker than Calm, and well below the bounce of Tropical. The station is designed to leave out:
- A second instrument. No strings, cello, violin, guitar, harp, synthesizer or pads. Every Soft Piano recipe calls for one piano and nothing else.
- Drums, percussion and voices. No vocals, no humming and no choirs.
- Bells, chimes, beeps and alarm-like tones. A practice already has those coming from its phones and its equipment.
- Minor keys and a sad or sleepy mood. No lullabies and no wistful or brooding pieces: the tunes stay in bright major keys.
- Showpiece playing. No virtuoso runs, no cascades of arpeggios, no dramatic climaxes, and no free, stretched tempo of the kind solo piano often uses for effect.
Original instrumental music, generated and mastered by eleMusic. How the music is made.
Which rooms suit Soft Piano?
Soft Piano's suggested rooms cover both ends of the office: the rooms where patients are seen and the room where they wait. Walking through the practice:
- Operatories and hygiene rooms. A single piano with no drums gives the room a tune without a band. For a provider who wants a little motion in the room but no beat, the moving left hand supplies it; for no pulse at all, switch that room to Calm.
- Waiting room. A melody with no lyrics, at whatever level the room's own speakers are set to. Our guide to dental waiting room music covers what else to think about at the front.
- Front desk. Not on Soft Piano's suggested list; Light Jazz and Tropical are suggested there.
One more case: a practice that runs a single device for the whole office. When one tablet or computer feeds the speakers in every room, every room hears one station, so it helps to choose one suggested for both the chair and the waiting room. Soft Piano and Acoustic Guitar are the two with that suggestion, and Ambient is suggested for any room. A device is one stream: a tablet feeding the ceiling speakers in several rooms counts once. The Solo plan covers 1 device for $15 a month; see setting up sound in a dental office for wiring one device to several rooms, and music for dental treatment rooms for the chairside side of the question.
When is another station the better fit?
Soft Piano does one thing. If a room calls for something else, here is where to look:
| If the room needs | Try | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Piano with company, and no pulse at all | Calm | Felt piano with warm strings or a mellow electric piano, slower at 50 to 70 BPM |
| Piano with bass and brushes | Light Jazz | Trios played lightly with an easy swing or a bossa lilt, 78 to 110 BPM |
| A fuller ensemble | Classical | Chamber strings, often joined by flute, clarinet, piano or classical guitar |
| No tune to follow | Ambient | Warm pads, soft drones and airy textures, with no melody |
| Guitar instead of piano | Acoustic Guitar | One or two fingerpicked guitars, 60 to 80 BPM |
| A sunnier groove | Tropical | Steel pan, ukulele and marimba at 92 to 108 BPM |
| Retro easy listening | Elevator Music | Strings, vibes and a soft brushed bossa sway, in the manner of an old hotel lobby |
And if what you want is a famous piano piece or a piano cover of a song your patients know, no eleMusic station has it. No vocals, no ads, no commercial recordings.
What pairs well with Soft Piano?
Each device chooses its own station, so a practice can run Soft Piano in some rooms and something else in others. Three combinations that follow the suggested rooms:
Two speeds in the back
Soft Piano in most treatment rooms, Calm in the one where a provider wants slower music with no pulse. Both are designed around bright major keys.
Strings in the halls, piano at the chair
Classical in the corridors, Soft Piano in the treatment rooms. The walk in passes chamber strings and woodwinds at a median of 76 BPM, then the room narrows to one piano at 70 BPM.
A plan is sized by how many devices play at once, and every plan includes every music station, so mixing stations by room does not change the price. See pricing, how it works for choosing a station on each device, or hear every station's preview on the stations page.
Soft Piano questions
Does Soft Piano have a beat?
No. There are no drums and no percussion. What keeps time is the left-hand part of the piano, which keeps moving under the tune; in the waltz tracks it falls into a three-beat sway. The tempo runs 62 to 84 BPM. For brushes and an upright bass, try Light Jazz.
Is Soft Piano classical piano music?
It is solo piano, but not concert repertoire. The tracks are original pieces with simple tunes and warm major chords, closer to light modern piano than to a recital program, and the station plays no famous works and no covers. For an ensemble with strings and woodwinds, try Classical.
Will a room hear the same Soft Piano track twice in a day?
It can, if the room plays Soft Piano long enough. Each device plays the station in its own shuffled order, new every day, and works through the station before starting over. In the browser player, once a device has gone through the whole station, the next pass is reshuffled so that a track comes back only after about three quarters of the station has played. How long that takes depends on how many tracks the station holds. That number changes over time, and the player shows it while Soft Piano plays.
Hear it in your own rooms.
Eight instrumental stations and one access code, on a tablet or laptop in each room, or cast to your TV. From $15 a month for one device; Practice covers up to 5 devices for $24.
New locations start with a 14-day trial. A card is required and nothing is due at checkout. A reminder goes to the billing email before the trial ends, and you can cancel in Manage billing or by emailing hello@elemusic.fm. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, the card is charged the plan price when it ends. See the Terms of Service and the Refund and Cancellation Policy.