National Piano Month!

[CloudyBlueDay]

PIANO!!

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Spoiler

(Those last two pictures were 100% real depictions of the every day life of a piano)


A magical mystical device that is somehow both a string and percussion instrument!

The piano (Italian pronunciation: [?pja?no]; an abbreviation of pianoforte[pjano?f?rte]) is a musical instrument played using a keyboard.[1] It is widely employed in classical and jazz music for solo and ensembleperformances,accompaniment, and for composing and rehearsal. Although the piano is not portable and often expensive, its versatility and ubiquity have made it one of the world's most familiar musical instruments. Wikipedia

The Clavichord

We begin with the Clavichord!


This tiny thing is incredibly hard to play. The keys barely go down half way and are much smaller then today's piano. I had a small class where we got to play all the following instruments, including the clavichord, and the teacher told us to hold our breath when someone went up to play it. Because the clavichord is incredibly quiet! The Clavichord is from the Baroque period, and a couple big names that played this instrument would be Bach and Scarlatti. Bach had eleven Clavichords, one for each child.

The Harpsichord

This is the Harpsichord! A very big change from the Clavichord. You can see here that instead of one row of keys, we have two, and the colors of keys were reversed back then! The Harpsichord has a very rich sound, and, you guessed it, sounds a lot like a harp. Back in those days, everything was handmade, and Harpsichords were often painted with beautiful illustrations. Bach, Scarlatti, and Handel all played this instrument. (as well as the Clavichord.) Pedal and dynamics were not yet invented.

The Forte Piano

The forte piano was another great big step in the piano evolution. Pedal and dynamics were now a thing! The forte piano was also much louder and more fit for big concert halls. The Clavichord was more of a little toy you had in the living room to play with, but now piano was getting serious. The pedal, on the Forte Piano, is not actually a foot pedal, but a knee pedal! It's a button you press with your knee, under the keyboard. But it was not used much, for it would tire the pianist out, sitting with their toes up the entire performance.

The Piano!

Here we are, at the modern day piano! They are much, much more sturdy and louder than the Harpsichord and the Forte Piano. If a string were to break on the Forte Piano, and say, hit someone in the face, all they would get is a little scratch. But if the same happened on our modern day piano? That person wouldn't have a head anymore, because more than two tons of weight is on every string in the piano. Don't lose your head, kids. Please.

I am, in fact, a pianist myself. I've been playing for about eight years now! I just did a piano summer camp, and it was a wonderful experience. I got to play all the past evolutions of the piano, duo pieces, learn the inside of a piano, theory, and just a whole lotta info shoved into my head which I am happy to share with you here.


I want to hear your experiences with this wonderful instrument. If you tell me sumn good, you have a chance to be featured in the Newsletter!

*I apologize if any of the info is incorrect. Please let me know if there's a mistake.

 

[CloudyBlueDay]

@SkyGinge Monsieur also plays piano!

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Lotsa people do.


Hi.

 

[CloudyBlueDay]

[QUOTE="Prizzy Kriyze]Lotsa people do.
Hi.

[/QUOTE]
Prizzy! What do you play on the piano?

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Everything really. I go to music school and stuff, so I chip in on everything that I get to and so it really becomes everything.

 

[CloudyBlueDay]

[QUOTE="Prizzy Kriyze]Everything really. I go to music school and stuff, so I chip in on everything that I get to and so it really becomes everything.

[/QUOTE]
Awesome.

 

[The Creator Prime]

I've played piano for the majority of my life.


I've shared a little bit of everything with my piano.

 

[Bone2pick]

Fun fact, pianos are never exactly in tune. Tuners have to use special tools to tune pianos, because if they tuned a piano to exactly one note, then the piano would only be able to play in one key. The reason being has to do with the instruments harmonics.

I don't have the first clue about pianos, so I'm still confused. A 'G' note struck by a piano key would still be in tune with a clarinet 'G' note, correct? Same thing with their chords?

 

[Bone2pick]

I tinker on the guitar, which can obviously play chords, same thing for it?

 

[Bone2pick]

I guess because I use a digital tuner for my guitar I always assumed it was pretty spot on.

 

[welian]

.....


//slowly scrubs off the alphabet stickers she had to stick her piano as a child

 

[CloudyBlueDay]

.....
//slowly scrubs off the alphabet stickers she had to stick her piano as a child

There's still a little flower sticker on my piano from when I was like seven. Keep the stickers.

 

[welian]

There's still a little flower sticker on my piano from when I was like seven. Keep the stickers.

You know, I can't even touch type. It's no wonder I couldn't play the piano. xD I really admire people with good hand-eye coordination.

 

[CloudyBlueDay]

I have a really cool story on how I got my piano!


A long time ago, before I was born, my parents went into a Virgin America store. (I believe it was that.) A Canadian singer named Chantal Kreviazuk was being sponsered by Steinway. She was getting a new piano from them, and her old Steinway upright was being raffled off. So my mom and dad thought why not, put their names in the hat, and believe it or not, my mom won. She said she got lots of nasty looks from long-time fans who had really wanted the piano, when my mom never even heard of the singer and won the piano. And it's still here, in great shape, my precious child which I spent my years on. :3

 

[Bone2pick]

Here's another way you can think of it. Guitar standard tuning is in G. When you strum a G major chord in standard tuning, it's absolutely gorgeous, and it's ridiculously easy to play songs in that key. It's not impossible to play in other keys, but it can be more difficult. That's why guitar players will tend to tune their guitar up or down, depending on the song they are performing. Not only will this make it easier for them to play the song, but it also changes the harmonics.

I find the easiest key for a guitar player is E, with open top and bottom strings on its chord. And E - A - B (I IV V) is like the easiest progression for standard tuning imo. Second would be A, then G, but that's just my observation.


Down or up tuning could help you play a song, but it's mostly for how high or low you want to sound. A whole step down sounds a lot deeper, ect.