The History of The Piano

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The History of The Piano

• By Shelton O. Young

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So whos behind it all

• The story of the piano begins in Padua, Italy in
  1709, in the shop of a harpsichord maker named
  Bartolommeo di Francesco Cristofori (1655-1731).
  Many other stringed and keyboard instruments
  preceded the piano and led to the development of
  the instrument as we know it today.
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  Bartolommeo C.

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Just so, that youll know

• Cristofori based his new design on the wooden
  frame of a harpsichord and implemented a unique
  keyboarding mechanism that was similar to that of
  a clavichord.

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Wayyyy back in the day.

• Mankinds knowledge that a taut, vibrating string
  can produce sound goes back to prehistoric times.
  In the ancient world, strings were attached and
  stretched over bows, gourds, and boxes to amplify
  the sound they were fastened by ties, pegs and
  pins and they were plucked, bowed or struck to
  produce sounds.

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Yes the Piano has a lot to do with strings!

• Eventually, a family of stringed instruments with
  a keyboard evolved in Europe in the 14th century.
  The earliest of these was a dulcimer, a closed,
  shallow box over which stretched wires were
  struck with two wooden hammers. The dulcimer led
  to the development of the clavichord, which also
  appeared in the 14th century. These were followed
  by the spinet, virginal, clavecin, gravicembalo,
  and finally, the harpsichord in the 15th century.

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Finally

• The harpsichord, however, was limited to one,
  unvarying volume. Its softness and loudness could
  not be varied while playing. Therefore,
  performing artists could not convey the same
  degree of musical expression as that of most
  other instruments. The artistic desire for more
  controlled expression led directly to the
  invention of the piano, on which the artist could
  alter the loudness and tone with the force of
  ones fingers.

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To Sum Things Up

• The harpsichord was a particularly important
  development leading to the invention of the
  piano. Its ability to project sound more loudly
  than its predecessors, and refinements in the
  action (or touch) inspired many more musicians to
  compose for the keyboard and thus, to perform
  keyboard works.

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Not to mention

• First exhibited in Florence in 1709,
  Cristoforis new instrument was named
  gravicembalo col piano e forte (roughly soft and
  loud keyboard instrument). Eventually, it was
  shortened to fortepiano or pianoforte, and
  finally just piano. His earliest surviving
  instrument dates from 1720 and is on display at
  the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

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What leads up to todays piano..

• Since its inception, the instrument we know today
  as the piano has had many innovators over the
  past 300 years who have shaped its functionality,
  appearance and sound. But even this does not tell
  the complete story of piano history, whose
  origins trace back to the first air-powered and
  stringed instruments developed and used in
  ancient civilizations.

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New Technology in Pianos

• We are living in perhaps the most exciting time
  in history to buy, own or play that eternal
  instrument, the piano. Whether your goal is to
  purchase something as small as software that can
  record what you play, a newly designed player
  piano, a digital instrument or a classic acoustic
  model, there have never been as many choices for
  the consumer as it is today and there are still
  more and more inventions as it relates to the
  piano that are sky rocketing and are made to stun
  the generation of tomorrow. Will there ever be an
  end to this timeless instrument or shall the
  legacy of the piano live on as long as history?
  WHAT DO YOU THINK?