PIANO
The piano (or pianoforte to give it its proper name) is a musical instrument with a keyboard. A normal piano has 88 keys. Pianos use the keys to move hammers that hit strings inside, making a sound. Pianos come in two basic shapes: grand pianos and upright pianos. The piano has been an extremely popular instrument in Western classical music since the late 18th century. A person who plays the piano is called a pianist.

History
The piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy. He made his first piano in 1709. It developed from the clavichord which looks like a piano but the strings of a clavichord are hit by a small blade of metal called a “tangent”. In the piano the strings are hit by a block of wood called a hammer. The early keyboarded instruments, such as the clavichords, harpsichords and organs that were used at that time, had a much shorter keyboard than they do today. Gradually the keyboard became longer until it had the 88 notes (7 octaves plus three notes) of the modern piano.
At first the instrument was called the “fortepiano”. This means “loud-soft” in Italian. It was given this name because it could be played either loudly or softly, depending on how hard the note was hit (the harpsichord could not do this, and the clavichord could only make a tiny difference between louder and softer). Later this name changed to “pianoforte”. This is normally shortened to “piano”. The word “fortepiano” is sometimes used to describe the pianos of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In some languages, such as Russian, “fortepiano” is the normal word for a piano.
Although the piano was invented at the beginning of the 18th century, it was not until 50 years later that it started to become popular. The first time the piano was played in a public concert in London was in 1768 when it was played by Johann Christian Bach. The upright piano was invented in 1800 by John Isaac Hawkings. Seven years later T. Southwell invented “overstringing”. This means that the strings for the low notes go diagonally across the soundboard so that they can be longer and make a much bigger sound.

Types
Modern acoustic pianos have two basic configurations, the grand piano and the upright piano, with various styles of each. There are also specialized and novelty pianos, electric pianos based on electromechanical designs, electronic pianos that synthesize piano-like tones using oscillators, and digital pianos using digital samples of acoustic piano sounds.

Grand
In grand pianos, the frame and strings are horizontal, with the strings extending away from the keyboard. The action lies beneath the strings, and uses gravity as its means of return to a state of rest.
There are many sizes of grand piano. A rough generalization distinguishes the concert grand (between 2.2 and 3 meters long, about 7–10 feet) from the parlor grand or boudoir grand (1.7 to 2.2 meters long, about 6–7 feet) and the smaller baby grand (around 1.5 metres (5 feet)).

Upright (vertical)
Upright pianos, also called vertical pianos, are more compact because the frame and strings are vertical. The hammers move horizontally, and return to their resting position via springs, which are susceptible to degradation. Upright pianos with unusually tall frames and long strings are sometimes called upright grand pianos. Some authors classify modern pianos according to their height and to modifications of the action that are necessary to accommodate the height.
Studio pianos are around 42 to 45 inches (106 to 114 cm) tall. This is the shortest cabinet that can accommodate a full-sized action located above the keyboard.
Console pianos have a compact action (shorter hammers), and are a few inches shorter than studio models. The top of a spinet model barely rises above the keyboard. The action is located below, operated by vertical wires that are attached to the backs of the keys. Anything taller than a studio piano is called an upright.

Electric, electronic, and digital
Electric pianos have conventional strings but use electromagnetic pickups similar to those on an electric guitar. The resulting electrical, analogue signal can then be amplified or electronically manipulated if required. Electric pianos are uncommon.
Electronic pianos are non-acoustic, they do not have strings but are a simple type of synthesizer that simulates piano sounds using oscillators.
Digital pianos are also non-acoustic and do not have strings but use digital sampling technology to reproduce the sound of each piano note. Digital pianos can include pedals, weighted keys, multiple voices, and MIDI interfaces. Early digital pianos tended to lack a full set of pedals but the synthesis software of later models such as the Yamaha Clavinova series synthesised the sympathetic vibration of the other strings and full pedal sets can now be replicated. The processing power of digital pianos has enabled highly realistic pianos using multi-gigabyte piano sample sets with as many as ninety recordings, each lasting many seconds, for each key under different conditions. Additional samples emulate sympathetic resonance, key release, the drop of the dampers, and simulations of techniques such as re-pedalling.

Piano parts

The piano has two pedals. Larger pianos have three.

The damper pedal - this pedal is on the right. When a pianist presses it down with his right foot, any notes he plays will keep on sounding even when he takes his finger(s) off the note(s). This is because there are dampers (they look a bit like the hammers) that rest on all the strings. When the pianist holds the right pedal down all the dampers come off the strings so that the strings are free to vibrate. When a note is played, that note will continue to sound. Some other strings will also vibrate very lightly (this is called “sympathetic vibration”). It will make the sound smoother and richer. Pianists have to learn how to use the pedal well. This will depend on such things as the style of the music, the size of the piano, the size of the room and whether there is a lot of furnishing there.

The soft pedal - the soft pedal is on the left. When a pianist presses it down with his left foot, the notes sound quieter. On a grand piano the whole keyboard and action shift a bit to the left so that the hammers only hit two strings instead of three. Also the parts of the felt which hit the string are softer because they have not become hard with lots of use. The soft pedal is normally kept down for the whole of a piece or the whole of a section of a piece. This pedal is sometimes called the una corda pedal. Una corda means: one string. This is because in the early pianos it was possible to press the pedal a little way so that the hammers hit two strings, then press it further so that they hit only one string. This is why the sign to tell a pianist to use the left pedal is “una corda”. To cancel the left pedal the composer writes “tre corde” (“three strings”) in the music.

The middle pedal is called the sostenuto pedal. Like the right pedal, it keeps the sound going, but it only affects notes that are already being played at the moment when the middle pedal is pressed down. This makes it possible to keep one chord going while playing other notes that will not carry on. All concert grand pianos have a sostenuto pedal, and some modern upright pianos do as well. Some upright pianos have a middle pedal that is not a sostenuto pedal at all, but a practice pedal. It places a piece of cloth in front of the strings, that makes the sound very quiet indeed so that a pianist can practise without disturbing other people. The sound of a piano with a practice piano is very limited and different. The practice pedal can usually be pressed down and put in a slot so that it will stay in place.

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