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History of Piano and its music
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The piano has long been a valuable member of American families. The instrument has been around since the 1700’s and is still popular today as people own them for the enjoyment of music as well as the eye pleasing elegance of the furniture itself. The music that comes from these magnificent instruments is melodic and graceful. The piano has evolved all the way from the Dulcimer, shortly after the birth of Christ. It has gone through many changes before evolving into the modern day piano we know of today. From the Dulcimer to the modern grand piano, we have the history of the forever stunning instrument: the piano.
The first piano was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Italy in the year 1709. His piano was a four-octave instrument, with hammers striking the strings just as they do on a modern piano. ... “The Cristofori piano was wing-shaped like our grand pianos, with a curved body and a lid that could be raised” (Hamilton). ...
The dulcimer, the earliest ancestor of the piano, originated shortly after the birth of Christ, in Iran. The basic principles of the piano were illustrated on this instrument, as there were hammers that stroke multiple strings. They were also tuned over a flat soundboard like a modern piano. ... Around 1400, the first Clavichord was built; however, it was the most popular about 3 centuries later during the music of Bach. ... This produced a louder tone than the clavichord but lacked its variety in dynamics. ...
Recognized as early as the fifteenth century, the harpsichord form, where the keys are in line with the strings, reached its peak in the period of Bach and Handel. ... In about 1709, Bartolommeo Cristofori built several instruments in the harpsichord shape; however, he built them with hammer mechanisms surprisingly like the modern piano today. Because players could now control soft and loud (piano-forte), which was impossible on earlier plucked keyboard instruments, Cristofori named his new instrument pianoforte. This instrument would be the model in which the modern grand piano would take after (Hamilton). ... These thicker strings gave greater volume and brilliance to the piano. ... As early as the sixteenth century, upright designs were already developed for the harpsichord, but it wasn’t until the eighteenth century where many builders, especially in Germany, tired to apply the upright from to the piano-forte. ...
When German builders tried to apply the traditional rectangular form of the clavichord to the piano-forte, the Square Grand Piano evolved. It was popular up until 1900 when the piano continually became more powerful and responsive. ... Last but not least, the grand piano was developed. The grand piano of today incorporates the best qualities of early keyboard instruments. The cross stringing – a way to achieve greater richness of tone by passing more strings over the center of the soundboard– was invented by Alphaeus Babcock in 1830, but was not used in the grand piano until the second half of the nineteenth century (Grover). ... This pedal was invented in 1874; however, the modern piano did not acquire its essential characteristics until the 1860s or 1870s.
Today, the most commonly used style of piano used by contemporary artists is the Steinway Model D. The first D-style grand piano was made in about 1857, but it took Steinway an additional ten years to develop its unique rim-bending process. This allowed the rim to be made from a single piece of laminated maple and is one of the features that helped to give the Steinway its particular sound and character. ... The first piano in America was made by John Brent of Philadelphia in 1774.
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Paper Information
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Title: History of Piano and its music
Words: 2978
Rating: None
Pages: 11.9
submitted by: CYDiVeR428
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