Family: Keyboard instruments
Photo: Gryffindor, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument: pressing a key sets a small hammer in motion, which strikes the strings. A standard piano has 88 keys and more than 200 strings stretched over a cast-iron frame.
A short history
Around 1700 the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori created an instrument that could be played both softly (piano) and loudly (forte), depending on how hard the key was struck. Hence the name „pianoforte”. The earlier harpsichord could not do that.
Fun facts
- The upright piano is a „vertical” version of the grand – its strings run upwards, so it fits in a flat.
- Krzysztof Komeda, one of the most important Polish jazz musicians, was a pianist and wrote the music for Roman Polański’s films, including „Rosemary’s Baby”.
In rock and jazz
Jazz: Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and, from Poland, Krzysztof Komeda and Leszek Możdżer. Rock and rock and roll: Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elton John, Freddie Mercury („Bohemian Rhapsody”).
Do you play this instrument? Share your experience in the comments below – tell others what is worth knowing.