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Piano is a common abbreviation for pianoforte, a musical instrument with a keyboard (see keyboard instrument). Its sound is produced by strings stretched on a rigid frame. These vibrate when struck by felt-covered hammers, which are activated by the keyboard.

As a keyboard stringed instrument, the piano is similar to the clavichord and harpsichord. The three instruments differ in the mechanism of sound production. In a harpsichord, strings are plucked by quills or similar material. In the clavichord, strings are struck by tangents which remain in contact with the string. In a piano, the strings are struck by hammers which immediately rebound, leaving the string to vibrate freely.

History

The piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori. It is not clear exactly when he built his first piano, but Franceso Mannucci wrote in his diary that Cristofori was working on an "arcicembal che fa il piano e il forte" ("harpsichord that plays both softly and loudly") as early as 1689. All of his surviving instruments date from the 1720s, however.

Cristofori's early instruments were made with thin clavichord strings, and were much quieter than the modern piano. However, they could produce a wider range of dynamics than the clavichord, and the sound sustained longer.

Cristofori's piano design remained in use relatively unchanged until the 19th century.

Cristofori's new instrument remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei, wrote an enthusiastic article about it, complete with diagrams of the mechanism. This article was quite widely distributed, and most of the next generation of piano builders started their work as a result of reading the article.

One of these builders was Gottfried Silbermann, better known as an organ builder. His pianos included a feature where the dampers could be lifted from all the strings at once. On modern pianos, this is done by depressing a pedal, but Silbermann's pianos had an organ-style draw-stop instead. Otherwise, Silbermann's pianos are virtually direct copies of Cristofori's.

Silbermann showed Johann Sebastian Bach one of his early instruments in the 1730s. Bach did not like it at that time, though he did approve of a later instrument he saw in 1747.

Piano making flourished in Vienna during the late 18th century. Leading makers included Johann Andreas Stein, his daughter Nannette Stein, and Anton Walter. These were the instruments for which Mozart composed his concertos and sonatas, and many replicas of them are built today. The piano of Mozart's day had a softer, clearer tone than today's pianos, with less sustaining power. These pianos were built with wooden frames, two strings per note, and deerskin-covered hammers.

In lengthy period lasting from about 1790 to 1880, the Mozart-era piano underwent tremendous changes which ultimately led to the modern form of the instrument. This evolution was in response to a consistent preference by composers and pianists for a more powerful, sustained piano sound. At the same time, the tonal range of the piano was greatly increased, from the five octaves of Mozart's day to the 7 1/3 (or even more) octaves found on modern pianos.

In the first part of this era, technological progress owed much to the collaboration between Beethoven and the English firm of Broadwood: as Beethoven grew progressively more deaf, the instruments that Broadwood sent him grew progressively larger, louder, and more robustly constructed -- iron frames, three strings per note, the modern felt-covered hammer. Another important innovator in this period was the Erard firm of Paris.

Later in the 19th century, the Steinway firm (of New York and Hamburg) came to prominence. The Steinways patented many innovations in piano technology, notably the middle selective sustain (sostenuto) pedal and advances in hammer action allowing cleaner repeated notes. Other manufacturers added features such as supplementary resonating strings, unstruck and undampened, which add harmonics to the sound.

Some early instruments had shapes and designs that are no longer in use. The once-popular square piano has the strings and frame on a horizontal plane, but running across the length of the keyboard rather than away from it. It is similar to the upright piano in its mechanism. Square pianos were produced through the early 20th century, and were of modest quality. Most had a wood frame, though later designs incorporated increasing amounts of iron. The giraffe piano, by contrast, is mechanically like a grand piano, but the strings run vertically up from the keyboard rather than horizontally away from it. This makes it a very tall instrument. These were uncommon.

The modern instrument

Modern pianos come in two basic configurations and several sizes: the grand piano and the upright piano.

The grand piano, as we know it today, was introduced by Steinway in the late 1800s, combining a number of previously introduced innovations.
These included:

• A cast iron plate
• The 88 key tonal range
• The "repeating" action
• The overstrung scale (strings slanted, so longer strings will fit in the same size case)

The present-day upright piano replaced the square piano somewhat later.

Upright pianos are more compact due to the frame and strings being placed vertically, extending in both directions from the keyboard and hammers. The very best upright pianos are comparable in sound quality and responsiveness to grand pianos of the same size. The main difference to the pianist is that the action does not repeat as quickly because the repeating spring and lever used in grand pianos is not incorporated into the action of uprights.

On uprights, the una corda pedal, or soft pedal, is replaced by a mechanism for moving the hammers' resting position closer to the strings. This is reasonably effective in reducing volume, but the tone obtained is weak rather than expressive.

Grand pianos have the frame and strings placed horizontally, with the strings extending away from the keyboard. This avoids the problems inherent in an upright piano, but takes up a great deal more space. Several sizes of grand piano exist. Manufacturers may vary, but in general they are: "concert grand": approx. 3m; "grand": approx 1.8m; and "baby grand". The baby grand is designed for domestic use, although its much shortened strings mean the sound quality is in some cases poorer than an upright. It is hardly ever used in any serious context, but is a handy instrument for people who want to have a grand piano but cannot afford the cost, either in terms of money or floor space, of a larger instrument.

Almost every modern piano has 88 keys (7 octaves and a bit, A to C). Many older pianos only have 85 (from A to A), while some manufacturers extend the range further in one or both directions. The most notable example of an extended range can be found on Bosendorfer pianos, some of which extend the normal range downwards to F, with others going as far as a bottom C making a full eight octave range. On some models these extra keys are hidden under a small hinged lid, which can be flipped down to cover the keys and avoid visual disorientation in a pianist unfamiliar with the extended keyboard. Some of the extra keys are added only for increased resonance; that is, they vibrate sympathetically with other strings whenever the damper pedal is depressed. Only a very small number of works composed for piano actually use these notes.

The keys for a piano are white and black. The keys are ordered so the notes ascend in pitch, from left to right.

Typically piano music is written with a treble clef and a bass clef. Piano keys are grouped in octaves, with a group of 12 semitones to an octave (so called, because there are eight whole tone spaces, or eight white keys, per octave). There are five black keys for the half-steps within an octave, constituting the pentatonic scale.

The pattern for black and white keys is White-Black-White-Black-White-White-Black-White-Black-White-Black-White. (ie: C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B ). This constitutes the chromatic scale. This keyboard design is inherited from the harpsichord.

Much great music has been written for the piano, with it being an instrument central to the classical music repertoire.

In 1863, Henri Fourneaux invented the player piano, a kind of piano which "plays itself" without the need for a pianist. Also in the 19th century, toy pianos began to be manufactured.

A relatively recent development is the prepared piano, which is a piano adapted in some way by placing objects inside the instrument, or changing its mechanism in some way. Doing this changes the timbre of the note struck, which makes the prepared piano sound more like a gamelan than a traditional piano. John Cage is famous for modifying the piano in different ways to suit the music he wrote.

Since 1990's Digital pianos have become available, which digitize the sound of each piano note. Digital pianos have become quite sophisticated, with standard pedals, multiple voices, MIDI interfaces, and so on. However, with current technology, it remains impossible to duplicate a crucial aspect of acoustic pianos, namely that when the pedal is depressed, the strings not struck vibrate sympathetically with the struck strings. Since this sympathetic vibration is considered central to a beautiful piano tone, digital pianos are not (yet) considered capable of competing with quality acoustic pianos in tone quality.

A person who plays a piano is known as a pianist.

History

• Bartolomeo Cristofori
• Fazioli
• Steinway

Piano is also a dynamic direction in music, often appearing in sheet music as p, and indicating to the performer that he should play softly. It is the opposite of forte, meaning "loudly".

The Piano is also a 1993 film starring Harvey Keitel and Holly Hunter.