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Piano; is a stringed instrument with clavy. It is sometimes considered a percussion instrument because it makes a sound when the hammers in the mechanism hit the strings by pressing the keys on the keyboard. The earliest known ancestor of stringed keyboard instruments is a Chinese Ke dating back to year BC 2650. This instrument was approximately 1.5 m long and consisted of 50 strings attached to the top of a wooden box. Each string was made of 81 fibers, and a talented musician could achieve the lower and upper quintet of the string's sound using the right methods. Ke, which was developed later, reached a structure where Moving Bridges are used on 25 strings; For every 5 strings, a different colored bridge was used. The moving bridge system allowed the expert musician to reach very different sound colors. 

 

In Europe, there was Pythagoras's instrument called the Monochord, which he used around BC 500 years to find the mathematical relationships of musical sounds. There was 1 wire fixed on top of a wooden box and it had a scale on which different sound levels were marked by means of a paper placed under the wire. By pulling the string with fingers from different positions where these degrees were shown, sounds of different pitches were obtained.  The Greeks often used the Monocord where Roman Empire also used it, especially in the church, to facilitate the entrance of the choir into tone.  Guido of Arezzo adapted Moving Bridges for the instrument to make the intonation precise. The movable bridge also accelerated other innovations that would follow, and the Klavis (Keyboard) was added to the Monochord, where strings were increased. Each key on Klavis had its own plectrum; When the key was pressed, the plectrum would pull the string and release it from a point suitable for the pitch of the sound to be obtained. Klavis allowed the number of strings to increase in a short time.  12th and 13th centuries. With the trials, it was aimed that the instrument would have the ability to give all sounds. These trials gave birth to an instrument called Clavicytherium. The instrument thought to have been discovered in Italy in 1300 and was developed in Germany. The strings were arranged in a triangle, as on the Harp, and were drawn with feather plectrums fixed to the tip of the Clavi's. Clavicytherium also developed and formed the Clavichord. The first clavichord models, produced in the 15th century, were based on a system in which the strings were not pulled with a plectrum, but vibrated, unlike other instruments. They had 20-22 metal wires. The clavichord, which was highly developed at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of 17th century, had become the most popular instrument of its time. Even after the invention of Pianoforte in the 18th century, the clavichord remained popular for a long time. In 1503, Giovanni Spinetti of Venice invented a new rectangular, four-octave stringed keyboard instrument. The rectangular structure allowed the soundboard to expand and the strings to be longer; Spinetti covered almost the entire surface with wires. However, the long strings did not allow the plectrum to touch the strings directly; In order to obtain sound, the plectrum had to pull the string and let it go. This instrument was named the Spinet after its inventor. While the models produced by Spinetti were out of the keyboard instrument, after 1550 Rossi of Milan developed models that included the keyboard in the instrument. Spinet evolved into the winged Harpsichord. In 1579, a third set of strings was added, resonating from an upper octave. In the 17th century, it was in a position to compete with the most popular instrument of the period, the lute. In the years that followed, it became Europe's most popular instrument and profoundly influenced composing techniques. In France, composers focused on this instrument such as Chambonniéres and Louis Couperin, together with their followers Jean-Philippe Rameau and François Couperin, formed the famous French Harpsichord School. The instrument deeply influenced the Bach family in Germany and the Italian composer Scarlatti in Spain.

Florentine Bartolomeo Cristofori invented a new musical instrument in 1711. It was possible to make both light sounds and strong sounds on this instrument. Therefore, it is called Piano e forte, which means light and strong in Italian. The sounds of the piano, which is considered a new invention, were obtained by the small sounds covered with leather, actuated by the keys and hitting the strings. The mechanism of the instrument included small hammers in the number of sounds, the levers that actuate those hammers, and a silencer cloth section that stopped the strings from vibrating. 

After that, each part of the piano was developed by examining and working on them separately, and today's perfect pianos were presented to us.

The sound width of the modern piano consists of seven octaves, from the deep “la” to the thin “do”, and a minor triad. However, six and a half octaves is enough to play classical piano literature. A standard piano has a total of 88 keys, 52 white keys and 36 black keys . It is divided into two as console type piano and grand piano. However, nowadays, digital pianos are also preferred because they are economical and ergonomic. The piano has pedals as well as keys. Therefore, it is an instrument played with both hands and feet. 

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You can learn to play the piano or improve your current level by taking Private Piano Lessons, One-to-One Group Piano Lessons, or Online Private Piano Lessons from our valuable teachers and instructors at Söyler Art Academy.

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