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I would call the piano the most versatile
and influential musical instrument in
Western culture.
Maybe I'm biased because I can play it myself.
I like to imagine how, in the days
before recorded music, people would gather
around a piano by candlelight to hear arrangements
of the best orchestral symphonies of the
time.
The piano , which opened up wonderful music to the general public, was
invented in Italy around 1700.
Let me be your guide for a few
minutes and quickly show you what
makes the piano such an amazing musical invention.
A very important tool for a
composer is dynamic contrast —playing quietly and loudly.
Music is full of volume guidelines.
You can play quietly, it's a "piano
And then you can make a crescendo, that is, gradually increase the sound.
Play loudly, you can play very loudly, and
then do a diminuendo and
quiet down again.
I just love it.
By the way, everyone was excited
about the piano when it was first invented.
It could play quietly and loudly.
The Italians actually called it " quiet-loud", or "
piano-forte" in their language.
Eventually, for brevity, it was simply called " quiet".
And this word is "
piano".
There were clavichords and harpsichords alongside the piano.
Here's a snippet I
recorded early in my television career in Vienna
to explain the characteristics of
these early keyboard instruments and what makes a great piano.
The clavichord and harpsichord
were two predecessors of the piano.
For several hundred years, the clavichord was the
standard keyboard instrument.
It is small, simple, suitable for a cozy home
environment.
The key mechanism is very simple, it is a simple lever movement.
You can
create a little dynamic contrast.
From quiet to less quiet.
And a little vibrato, if you like.
The harpsichord produces a louder and brighter sound
because the strings were not
struck with a hammer , but plucked with feathers.
And since a pinch is a pinch,
the volume was always the same.
Around 1700, a more complex mechanism was invented:
when you press a key, it raises a
hammer against the string, and you could
strike it more softly or harder.
They called it "quietly- loudly"—the pianoforte.
Today we call it a
piano.
Let's take a little tour of the piano .
There are 88 keys from
start to finish.
And there are black and white keys so you don't get lost.
An
are semitones between these notes , and this gives 13 steps from one octave to the next.
And this
is called the chromatic scale.
So , the internal filling, the mechanical equipment
, is called mechanics.
This is a model.
This is one of the 88 mechanisms that together form the keyboard device of a piano.
You
see: when you press a key, it works
like a seesaw, throwing
the hammer up to strike the string.
But if you don't raise the damper that
rests on the string, there will be no
sound.
So, when the key goes down, the damper
rises, freeing the string
to vibrate after the hammer strikes.
This mechanism is adjustable to provide
the pianist with better response and control.
The sound of a piano is the hammers
striking the strings, and the dampers
on the strings must be raised so that
the string can vibrate
after the strike.
Another feature of the piano is that the elements vibrate
together.
This is called sympathetic vibration.
I strike one string at a time.
I touch it with my finger—and silence falls.
I release the key, the damper lowers, and the sound disappears.
Now,
if I press the damper pedal, they will
all rise, allowing the strings
to vibrate together.
It's a beautiful, rich sound.
I'll play three chords with the
dampers down, and then I'll play three chords
with the dampers up
This is an exciting device.
If I play the strings with the
dampers down , you won't hear anything .
I raise the dampers, and the dampers in the raised
state allow the strings to vibrate together.
This is called sympathetic vibration.
The basis of
all this sound is the resonant soundboard under the strings.
If I
just hit the deck, nothing much will happen
because the dampers are down.
If I hit the deck with the dampers up, you'll see.
Indeed,
if I say "hello" to the piano, nothing will happen.
But if I
raise the dampers and call out, "hello," it
not only responds, but
also picks up the timbre of my voice.
It's all thanks to good
vibrations.
A tuner tunes a piano by adjusting the tension of each string so that
each note sounds correctly.
This correct pitch is based on the note "A" of the first
octave (440 Hz).
This means that this note "A " vibrates 440 times per second.
440 times per
second.
So, with that in mind , he can adjust the string with a
key, tightening or loosening the peg to change
the pitch and mathematically harmonize
all the strings of the instrument.
If it's 440 vibrations per second, then the octave
higher is 880, because an octave is a
doubling of vibrations, then this A
is 220, 110, 55, and 27 and a half vibrations per second.
It's so slow you
can see it vibrating.
The highest note, 4000 vibrations per second.
The piano is incredibly versatile.
It has a wide range from low to
high notes, almost the same as the instruments in an orchestra.
From
double bass to cello, viola and violin to piccolo.
That's seven octaves in one
instrument.
Composers love it for its adaptability.
I remember being so angry when my parents forced
me to take piano lessons, but when I
realized that my tears and refusal to
practice were in vain, I decided, "Okay, I'll
give it my all
." Yes, I decided to be a diligent student.
I did n't have any particular talent, but I studied hard and
had good and caring teachers.
Result?
I have enjoyed 60 years of playing the keyboard.
