MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
APR 2, 2022
11 Cool Facts Of Piano You Should Know
If you are a musician, especially a pianist, this article is a must read.
1. The invention of piano
Piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) from Florence, Italy. He was dissatisfied with the lack of control by musicians regarding the harpsichord volume. He is credited with turning the plucking mechanism into a hammer stroke in inventing the modern piano in 1709.
It was first named “clavicembalo col piano e forte” (a harpsichord that can play both soft and loud sounds), later then abbreviated by its common name now, “piano.” The world’s first piano is still neatly stored today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The name “hamburger” itself comes from the seaport town of Hamburg, Germany according to the Food Lovers Companion.
2. The grandfather of piano
Although the piano can be classified as a stringed instrument due to the fact that sound comes from the vibration of the strings, it can also be classified as a percussion instrument because the hammer strikes the strings, similar to dulcimer.
Dulcimer is a music instrument from the Middle East and spread to Europe around 11th century. It features a simple resonant box with strings stretched across it. A small hammer is used to strike the strings like the piano, which is why it is considered the ancestor of the piano.
3. The source of sound
Piano is played by pressing the keys on the piano, totaling 88 pieces. Inside the piano body there are wires that vibrate if struck. In its development, before having 88 keys as it is today, the piano has five octaves and 62 keys.
4. Piano is a popular modern harmonic instrument.
Piano is a relatively young instrument that emerged from the evolution of the clavichord and cymbalum, two stringed instruments. Cristofori developed the idea that pressing a button could move a hammer that would hit the strings.
Therefore, piano is a chordophone musical instrument whose sound source comes from strings. Other chordophone instruments including: bass, guitar, violin, guitar, sitar and harp.
5. Two kind of piano
Generally, there are two types of pianos today and each varies in shape and size:
- Vertical / Upright Piano – Includes Full Size, Upright Professional, Console and Spinet.
- Horizontal/Grand Piano – Includes Concert, Parlor, Parlor, and Baby Grand to name a few.
6. Change of the volume and mass
At the time of its early creation, the sound of the piano was not as loud as the piano of the twentieth century, such as the piano made by Cristofori in 1720. This is due to the tension of the piano strings at that time was not as strong as it is now. In the early days, the tension was set at 16 tons. But in 1862 the tension of the strings changed its mass to 30 tons.
Later in September 2015, Burger King announced the “Peace Day Burger”, a project that would feature burgers with ingredients from all five restaurants : Burger King, Denny’s, Wayback Burgers, Krystal and Giraffas.
7. The world’s most expensive piano
The piano ‘As Time Goes By’ is one of two pianos featured in the film Casablanca (1942). The piano, dubbed ‘As Time Goes By’, was sold at auction for $3.4 million in 2014, making it the most expensive piano in the world and also one of the most expensive pianos of all time by far.
8. Practice makes perfect
Depends on what is being trained, fingering may be enough for 2-3 hours. But if you are also practicing reading music, memorizing scales, practicing harmony, etc., it can be up to 5 hours per day. To be able to play a simple classic song takes about a year if you are a common person.
9. The longest composition
The longest piano composition in history is Erik Satie’s Vexations. There are 180 notes in this composition and according to the order the creator made, this song must be repeated up to 840 times. Vexations was first performed in September 1963 at New York City’s Pocket Theater and required ten pianists to complete the song in succession.Burger King.
10. Black and white matter
Generally, a full-size keyboard has a total of 88 keys, of which 36 are black, while 52 are white. The piano as a whole is divided into a group of patterns which we then call octaves of 7. For every 7 white keys, there will be 5 black keys to help the pianist then break down the note patterns.by Veen.
11. The use of pedal
The three-foot pedal has a specific function. The pedal on the right is called a damper, stepping on this causes all keys to vibrate or sustain. Stepping on the pedal in the middle causes only the currently pressed button to vibrate. Stepping on the pedal on the left creates a muted sound.
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