Piano is a keyboard musical instrument in which sounds are made by strings struck by small padded hammers. A piano produces a greater range of musical sounds than most other instruments. On a piano, a musician can play melody and harmony at the same time. A pianist also can play an extraordinary variety of loud and soft notes with great speed.
A musician plays a piano by striking keys of the keyboard. The keys operate levers that move the padded hammers. The hammers strike tightly stretched metal strings, which are mounted on a frame. These metal strings vibrate and therefore produce tones. The loudness of a tone depends on how hard the pianist strikes the keys.
The piano is important in many kinds of music. Most classical composers have written music for the piano as a solo instrument and in combination with other instruments or with singing. The piano is also used in jazz, rock, and other kinds of music.
Parts of a piano
A standard piano has seven main parts: (1) strings, (2) keyboard, (3) action, (4) pedals, (5) frame, (6) soundboard, and (7) case. The case covers the strings, action, frame, and soundboard. The keyboard and pedals are attached to the outside of the case.
The strings.
In almost all pianos, the strings are made of steel. Most pianos have more than 220 strings, each tuned to one of 88 pitches. The strings vary in length from 6 to 80 inches (15 to 200 centimeters). They are arranged in ascending order from left to right by semitones, or half steps. The longest strings are lowest in pitch and form the bass section, which occupies the left side of the piano. The shortest strings are highest in pitch and form the treble section, which occupies the right.
The pitch of a tone is determined mainly by the length of the strings. However, it also depends on the number, thickness, and tension (tightness) of the strings that produce each tone. About 58 tones, called unisons, have three strings each, and almost all the rest have two strings. In most cases, heavy strings are used for the low tones, and light strings for the high ones. The tension of the strings is adjusted when tuning a piano. Loosening a string lowers the pitch, and tightening a string raises it.
The keyboard.
A standard piano keyboard has 88 keys. Like the strings, the keys are arranged according to pitch, in ascending order from left to right. On most pianos, 36 keys are black, and 52 are white. The black keys are shorter and thicker than the white ones. Most pianos have plastic keys. But on some pianos, the white keys are made of ivory, and the black ones of ebony.
The action
is an elaborate system of mechanical devices that transmit motion from the keyboard to the strings. The pianist starts the action by striking a key, which causes a system of levers to move a hammer. The hammer is made of wood and covered with a special kind of felt. The hammer strikes a string, which vibrates and so produces a tone. When the player releases the key, a device called the damper presses against the string and stops its movement. If the pianist holds the key down, the damper remains off the string, allowing it to vibrate and produce a tone. A piano’s action consists of about 4,000 parts, most of which are made of wood.
The pedals
are located below the keyboard at the bottom of the piano. They are used to vary the quality of tones played. The pianist operates the pedals with his or her feet. Most pianos have a damper pedal on the right and a soft pedal on the left. The damper pedal lifts all the dampers, allowing the strings that are struck to vibrate freely. The soft pedal shifts the hammers, which are arranged in a row. As a result, each hammer strikes one less string than it normally does, which softens and lightens the tone. Some pianos also have a sostenuto pedal. This pedal lifts the dampers from strings selected by the player.
The frame.
A piano requires a strong frame to support the tremendous tension created by the stretched strings. The frame is made of cast iron. It withstands the strain of 220 strings exerting a total pull of from 35,000 to 45,000 pounds (15,900 to 20,400 kilograms).
The soundboard
is a thin sheet of wood that helps reinforce the sound created by the vibrating strings in a piano. The soundboard lies just below the strings and is made of a light wood, generally spruce. The wood vibrates with the strings, intensifying the sounds.
The case.
Most pianos have a wooden case, which covers the strings, action, frame, and soundboard. The case must be strong enough to support the weight of the piano.
Kinds of pianos
There are four basic kinds of pianos: (1) grand pianos, (2) upright pianos, (3) player pianos, and (4) electronic pianos. The four types vary in size and construction and are used for different purposes.
Grand pianos
are mounted on legs, and their strings and soundboard are parallel to the floor. The concert grand is the largest and most expensive piano. It measures about 9 feet (2.7 meters) long and is used in concert halls. The parlor grand and the baby grand measure between 5 and 6 feet (1.5 and 1.8 meters) long and are suitable for homes.
Upright pianos
are sometimes called vertical pianos because their strings and soundboard are perpendicular to the floor. These pianos take up less floor space—but also have poorer tone quality—than grand pianos. There are three main kinds of upright pianos, the spinet, the console, and the studio. A spinet stands between 36 and 38 inches (91 and 97 centimeters) high. A console measures between 36 and 40 inches (91 and 100 centimeters) high, and a studio between 45 and 50 inches (114 and 130 centimeters) high.
Player pianos
produce music automatically. They are operated by a roll of paper with patterns of holes that correspond to different notes. The roll moves over a cylinder, which also has small holes. A system consisting of a pump, bellows, and valves creates a vacuum in the cylinder. This vacuum sucks a stream of pressurized air through matching holes in the moving roll and the cylinder. The pressurized air causes the piano’s hammers to move and strike the strings, producing music. Player pianos were popular during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The performances of many great pianists of that period have been preserved on player rolls.
Electronic pianos
are often used in jazz and rock music. In one kind of electronic piano, the sound of the hammer striking the strings is picked up by a microphone and amplified electronically. The most popular type has no strings at all. Instead, all sound is produced by electronic means. This kind of electronic piano is small enough to carry, but it produces enough sound to fill a large auditorium. Both types have a keyboard. The number of keys varies from 54 to 88.
History
Several musical instruments, including the dulcimer, clavichord, and harpsichord, were forerunners of the piano. The dulcimer was probably invented in the Middle East during ancient times. It consists of a flat box with a set of wires across the top. The instrument is played by striking the wires with a mallet. The harpsichord and clavichord, which were developed by Europeans during the 1300’s and 1400’s, were among the first string instruments with a keyboard.
In 1709, Bartolomeo Cristofori, an Italian who built musical instruments, invented a keyboard instrument with strings that were struck by hammers. Cristofori gave his invention the name gravicembalo col piano e forte, which means harpsichord with soft and loud. The name was later shortened to pianoforte. Cristofori’s instrument was the direct forerunner of the modern piano.
Between the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, several musical instrument makers improved upon Cristofori’s pianoforte. In the late 1700’s, John Broadwood of England made many improvements in the piano. Broadwood’s instrument produced louder and richer tones than the pianoforte. In 1821, Sebastien Erard of France designed the double escapement, a device that improved the action of the piano’s hammers. Alpheus Babcock, an American, invented a large cast-iron frame in 1825. He also developed a method of cross-stringing pianos. In 1855, Henry E. Steinway, a German-born piano maker who moved to the United States, combined all these inventions in one piano. His piano closely resembled the grand pianos built today.
Since the late 1700’s, most great classical composers have written music for the piano. Leading composers of piano music in the late 1700’s and the 1800’s included Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, and Robert Schumann of Germany; Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Franz Schubert of Austria; Franz Liszt of Hungary; and Frédéric Chopin of Poland. Many classical composers of piano music, including Liszt and Chopin, were also accomplished players.
During the 1900’s, leading composers of piano music included Béla Bartók of Hungary, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel of France, and Paul Hindemith of Germany. Some American composers introduced major changes in piano music. For example, Henry Cowell introduced groups of notes called tone clusters, which are played with the palm, fist, or forearm. Cowell also called for pianists to strum the piano strings with their fingers. John Cage devised the prepared piano, in which paper clips, thumbtacks, and other objects are inserted between some of the strings. When the pianist strikes the keys for these strings, unusual sounds are produced. George Crumb electrically amplified the sound of the piano.
Other leading composers of piano music during the 1900’s and early 2000’s included George Gershwin and John Adams of the United States, Ignace Paderewski of Poland, Sergei Prokofiev and Sergei Rachmaninoff of Russia, and Erik Satie of France. Several of these composers were also leading concert soloists on the piano. Significant pianists of the 2000’s include Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, and Yuji Wang.
