Piano

The piano is a musical instrument that makes sound when small hammers hit metal strings inside it. The player presses keys on a long row called a keyboard. Each key is connected to a hammer. When the hammer strikes a string, the string shakes and makes a sound. The piano is one of the most popular instruments in the world. It can play soft, loud, fast, slow, sad, and happy music, all on the same instrument.

A piano was invented around the year 1700 by an Italian named Bartolomeo Cristofori. Before the piano, people played a similar instrument called the harpsichord. The harpsichord plucked its strings instead of striking them, so it always played at the same volume. Cristofori's new instrument could play soft and loud depending on how hard you pressed the keys. He called it the gravicembalo col piano e forte, which means "harpsichord with soft and loud." People shortened the name to "pianoforte," and later just "piano."

A modern piano has 88 keys. The white keys play the seven main notes, named A through G. The black keys play the notes in between, called sharps and flats. The lowest key on a piano sounds like a deep growl. The highest key sounds like a tiny bell. Together, the keys cover almost the full range of sounds that humans can easily hear in music.

There are two main kinds of pianos. A grand piano lies flat, with the strings stretched out sideways. Concert grand pianos can be nine feet long, longer than most cars. An upright piano stands vertical, with the strings going up and down. Upright pianos take up much less space and fit in homes and classrooms. Both kinds work the same way inside.

A piano is a heavy instrument. A full-size grand piano can weigh more than 1,000 pounds, about as much as a small horse. Most of that weight comes from a thick iron frame inside. The frame has to be strong because the strings pull on it with about 20 tons of force, the weight of three elephants.

Almost every kind of music uses the piano. Classical composers like Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin wrote thousands of pieces for it. Jazz musicians like Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk used the piano in new ways, with bent rhythms and surprising chords. Today, pianos appear in pop songs, movie soundtracks, school music rooms, and church services. Few instruments can do so many different jobs.