As a piano teacher, I felt I would be remiss to not do something to celebrate national piano month. So I thought I’d share some interesting piano facts with you.
The piano has many precursors and relatives, such as the harpsichord, the clavichord, the organ, and the celesta, just to name a few. But the piano we know today was invented by a man named Bartolomeo Christofori in Italy around 1700. There is some debate whether the exact year was 1698or 1709. It originally had a really long name that was eventually shortened to “pianoforte” and then, just piano. The harpsichord, which came before the piano, was limited in its volume and expression, so Christofori wanted to invent a similar instrument to be able to overcome those limitations.
A full-sized piano has 88 keys but in its history, it has been know to have anywhere from 44 to 97 keys at different times. The piano has over 12, 000 parts, 10,000 of which are moving! I just recently had my piano tuned so I can attest to the many complex parts! And there are 230 strings required to make the full sound of the piano. The strings are made of steel and are struck by tiny hammers when we press the keys. This is why the piano can be considered part of the string instrument family and the percussion instrument family. String instrument, because it obviously has strings, and a percussion instrument, because of the striking action of the hammers.
Traditionally, piano keys are referred to as “ivories” because thats what they were originally made from. But in an effort to protect endangered resources, they stopped using ivory around the 1940s and began using other substances, namely plastics.
The largest piano ever made was by Adrian Mann, a 25-year-old piano tuner from New Zealand. It weighs almost one and a half tons and is over 18 feet long, and it took him 4 years to build it. The world’s most expensive piano is called the Crystal Piano, because of its transparent design. It was first introduced and played at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and played by world-renown Chinese concert pianist, Lang Lang. It was then sold at auction for $3.22 million.
On a side note, I once had the privilege of seeing Lang Lang perform in concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. It was phenomenal! If you ever get the chance to see him perform, DO IT! You won’t regret it. His playing is amazingly inspirational!
Stay tuned for more piano facts and information as the month goes on!
Miss Donna 4 Music 