For several hundred years, a series of small keyboard instruments have involved in what we call a piano today. This instrument is played by pressing keys with the fingers, which sound when the hammers inside the piano strike the steel strings. The vibration of the strings resonate beautifully after the keys are struck, which makes the piano a wonderful universal instrument for all kinds of music.
After the pianist presses the key, a part inside the piano stops the sound from reverberating. While the key sounds, it transmits to the soundboard which amplifies the sound of the keys. The piano player is able to play different pitches depending on the keys played with differing degrees of loudness or softness and the duration of the notes held can be controlled by the damper pedal.
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.
The word piano is an abbreviation of the Italian word pianoforte, a rather formal and archaic word which means ’soft and loud’. It expresses the gradation of tone that the instrument produces. By association, the word piano has been taken over to denote the instrument whose original Italian name, clavicembalo, refers to the instrument’s fidelity and responsiveness to any touch on the keyboard.
The modern day piano developed over the centuries from the harp an old instrument before Christ’s time. Originally, the was and still is a plucked string instrument the gave birth to the piano. Keys were struck on the strings instead of being plucked in the very early keyboard instruments preceding the modern piano, which is the main difference between the harp and piano.
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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