The piano is one of the best-known instruments

The piano is one of the best-known and best-loved musical instruments. It is used in a wide variety of music styles, from Latin jazz to art music to contemporary avant-garde. play Latin jazz play Art music play Contemporary avant-garde Although it has strings that vibrate to produce sound, the piano may be considered a percussion instrument because depressing the keys causes hammers inside the piano to strike the strings. There are 88 keys in a full-size piano keyboard, each one attached to its own corresponding hammer. When used as part of the orchestra, the piano is often grouped with the percussion instruments. The name piano is short for pianoforte, literally meaning soft (piano) and loud (forte). The pianoforte was developed from its historical predecessor, the harpsichord. In the harpsichord, sound is produced by strings that are plucked by quills connected to keys—a much simpler mechanism than that of the piano. Top of Page Keyboard Mechanism Piano Mechanism Grand Piano Keyboard Mechanism Picture Courtesy of Steinway & Sons Grand Piano ActionGrand Piano Action Upright Piano ActionUpright Piano Action On the piano, the keys are connected to the hammers through a complex mechanism of levers, depicted above. This keyboard mechanism may also be referred to as the piano action. When the player depresses a key, the hammer connected to that key is launched towards a string, which is the source of the sound. Therefore, as opposed to the voice or a violin, the piano is not capable of sustained tones. However, depending on the performer's instrumental technique and the style of the piece, the piano may produce both lyrical singing tones and bright, percussive sounds. play Lyrical singing tones play Bright, percussive sounds Top of Page Hammers Voicing the Hammers Voicing the Hammers Picture Courtesy of Steinway & Sons The quality and consistency of the hammers is a crucial element in the production of a good piano tone because it is the hammers that ultimately come in direct contact with the strings to produce sound. Here, a master technician reduces the stiffness of a hammer by prickling the felt with a specially designed tool that has a small row of needles at one end. This mellows the tone of the sound associated with that particular key. At the time of manufacture, and later during regular maintenance, each hammer is checked for good tone. Soundboard The Soundboard The Soundboard Picture Courtesy of Steinway & Sons The soundboard is a major part of the piano. When the piano is played, the soundboard amplifies the vibrations of the strings. In turn, it sets in vibration a much greater amount of air than the strings could by themselves. There are more than two hundred strings in a piano. Made of steel, they are the sound-generating component of the instrument. In a grand piano, strings are stretched at tensions of nearly 40,000 pounds over wooden bridges (or supports), which are strongly fastened to the surface of the soundboard. The bridges transmit the smallest motions of the strings to the soundboard within a fraction of a second. The soundboard takes these vibrations and reproduces them faithfully (in tune) over its entire surface, transmitting them to the large body of air surrounding its front and back surfaces. In this way, powerful sound waves are generated that travel immediately to the eardrum of the listener. Iron Frame The Iron Frame Section of the Metal Frame Picture Courtesy of Steinway & Sons At around the end of the 18th century, various piano manufacturers tried to devise a way for the instrument to withstand the vast amount of tension generated by the stretched strings. In 1825, Alpheus Babcock of Boston invented, developed, and patented the one-piece cast-iron frame, which allowed the frame to sustain the nearly 40,000 pounds of string tension and therefore let the piano produce a more powerful and sustained sound. It also allowed makers to use thicker strings, especially in the lower register of the piano. It further eliminated the need for the instrument to have a closed bottom, which until then had helped structural firmness. The 340-pound one-piece cast-iron frame was a major development in the history of the piano. Pedals The Piano Pedals The Pedals The pedals are a crucial component of the piano. The function of the soft pedal is to reduce the amount and quality of the sound. On a grand piano, the soft pedal shifts the keyboard mechanism sideways so that the hammers strike two instead of three strings with a softer part of the felt. On an upright piano, the soft pedal moves the hammers closer to the strings so they strike with less force, thereby producing less volume. The sustain or damper pedal on the right shifts control of the sound duration from the hands to the feet by allowing the player to sustain the sound even though he or she might have let go of the keys. Depressing the sustain pedal on either a grand or upright piano lifts all the felt dampers above the strings, allowing them to vibrate freely until the pedal is released. Correct application of the pedals, both from a technical and an artistic point of view, is a critical component of piano performance. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was one of the first composers to explore the vast sonic potential of the piano. His famous Moonlight Sonata (actually not a name given by Beethoven himself) makes use of the sustain pedal through the first movement. Top of Page A Short History of the Piano Bartolomeo Cristofori Bartolomeo Cristofori Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) of Florence, Italy is generally credited with the invention of the fortepiano (1709), which he called gravicembalo col piano e forte (meaning harpsichord with soft and loud). This invention was further developed by Gottfried Silbermann and Johann Andreas Stein in Germany, and just a few years later, by manufacturers such as Johannes Zumpe and John Broadwood in England. Working in France, Sebastian Erard introduced several innovations to the piano mechanism in 1821 that made possible the playing of a key in quick repetition—and therefore some of the virtuoso effects commonly displayed in 19th-century piano music. play Virtuoso effects Other interesting variations include the upright piano developed by John Isaac Hawkins in Philadelphia at the beginning of the 19th century, and more recently, the digital electronic piano, which combines computer, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), and advanced acoustic technologies. For a detailed history of the piano, please visit the Virtual Piano Timeline at the Virtual Piano Museum. Fortepiano The Fortepiano (circa 1709) Upright Piano Modern Upright Piano Picture Courtesy of Steinway & Sons Electronic Digital Piano Electronic Digital Piano Picture Courtesy of Yamaha

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt play William Tell: Overture (by Gioachino Rossini), piano transcription Franz Liszt Born: 1811 Died: 1886 Period: Romantic Country: Austrian-Hungarian Empire Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach play Keyboard Sonata in A major: II. Andante con tenerezza Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Born: 1714 Died: 1788 Period: Classical Country: Germany Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven play Piano Sonata, Op. 27 No.2 Moonlight: I. Adagio sostenuto Ludwig van Beethoven Born: 1770 Died: 1827 Period: Classical Country: Germany Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg play Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19: II. Langsam Arnold Schoenberg Born: 1874 Died: 1951 Period: Contemporary Country: Austria/USA