Piano

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

A piano

The piano is a type of musical instrument. It is a member of the chord family. The name comes from fortepiano, meaning that it can play loud and soft sounds, something that most keyboards could not do when it was invented.

A normal piano has 88 keys. Pianos use the keys to move hammers that hit strings inside, making a sound. A person who plays the piano is called a pianist.

1 History
2 Piano parts
3 Famous piano song writers
4 Famous piano players
5 Other websites

[change] History

It is thought that Bartolomeo Cristofori made the first piano in 1709. Pianos used to be less sturdy. When Beethoven was alive, he hit the keys hard enough to break the pianos. After that, piano makers began to make stronger pianos, like the pianos people play today.

The clavichord looks like a piano but it is smaller and has a different sound. It has a small metal piece that hits strings, making a sound. The harpsichord also looks like a piano, but has a different sound. It has quills that pluck the strings to make a sound.

[change] Piano parts

A piano has black and white keys on a keyboard. When a person presses a key down, a sound is created. There are also three pedals that people use by pressing on them with their feet.

The damper pedal - This pedal is on the right and when a person presses it down with their feet and play a few notes, the notes join together and are smooth.

The soft pedal - The soft pedal is on the left and when a person presses it down with their feet and plays a few notes, the notes are quieter. Some pedals are able to be pushed to the left and locked in place so the notes will stay softer the whole time you are playing.

The middle pedal - The middle pedal is in the middle, and when a person presses it down, different things can happen. It depends on what sort of piano it is. The piano might have a sostenuto pedal, which, when pressed down, only holds out certain notes. Or it might have a different type of pedal, called a celeste pedal, which makes notes very soft and dull. This pedal is useful when someone wants to play a piano without disturbing other people. Or on some pianos the middle pedal sustains the bass notes and leaves echoes of all the other notes leaving a beautiful sound. Sometimes pianos don't even have middle pedals.