The piano is a musical instrument that a person plays by pressing the keys on a keyboard. The keys are linked to felt covered hammers that are caused to strike metal strings when the key is depressed. A mechanism ensures that upon striking the strings the hammers are immediately released, which allows the strings to continue to vibrate at their resonant frequency.
After keys are played by the pianist, the sound is stopped. As each key or chords are played, the resonance of the sound is directed to the soundboard which can be heard according to varying levels of loud or soft dynamics. So the piano is capable of contrasting dynamics and varying duration of pitches.
Over the centuries, the use of the piano included solo pieces or performance with voice or other chamber instruments and orchestra. It is one of the most used instruments for people who want to compose songs or music. The piano is a rather imposing instrument, but it is one of the most ever present instruments everywhere.
Piano is a shortened term for Pianoforte, which means loud and soft in Italian. This describes the ability for the piano to play various levels of loud and soft. The instrument piano has evolved from the Harpsichord a very popular instrument during the Baroque era centuries ago.
The original model for the piano is the much older stringed instrument known as the harp, the earliest versions of which were designed and used in ancient Greece centuries before the birth of Christ. At some point, a musically minded inventor conceived of the idea that instead of plucking the strings on a harp with the fingers as was traditionally done, it was also possible to devise a means of plucking the strings mechanically. It was this idea for a harp operated by mechanical keys that revolutionized music and gave rise to the first primitive keyboard.
The creative genius Cristofori started the creation of the harpsichord in 1698, which was the first keyboard that eventually developed into the piano. Cristofori collaborated with others and worked hard to improve the dynamic ability (loud to soft) of the harpsichord. By the 19th century, the harpsichord fully developed into the piano with mechanically operated rebounding hammers.
The goal of the inventor of the harpsichord was to invent an instrument that had bright high notes and resonant low notes. The mechanisms inside the piano had to be designed to regulate the hammers, use steel strings, and improvement in the resonators and fret boards. The range of the instruments had other improvements such as double key escapement that allows notes to be repeated when the hammer has not completed the resting position.
The critical breakthrough in the evolution of the piano was reached in the 19th century with the development of felted hammers, which provided for greater string tension, improved steel wires, iron frames for the sounding board, etc. The upright piano was perfected late in the 19th century, which made the piano more portable, less unwieldy and above all more affordable. So the piano left the concert halls and into the living rooms of the middle class where distinction of the piano became a symbol of culture and artistic refinement.
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