Piano Course from Zero
With this free course of 23 video lessons you will learn about the concepts to learn to play the piano.
The piano (abbreviation of "pianoforte", word that in Italian is composed of the terms "piano", "soft", and "forte", "strong") is a harmonic musical instrument classified as a percussion and percussion string instrument by the traditional classification system, and according to the Hornbostel-Sachs classification is a simple chordophone. The musician who plays the piano is called a pianist.
It is composed of a soundboard, to which a keyboard has been added through which the steel strings are struck with felt-lined hammers, producing the sound. The vibrations are transmitted through the bridges to the soundboard, which amplifies them. It consists of a chromatic harp with multiple strings, driven by an indirect percussion mechanism, to which dampers have been added. It was invented around 1700 by the Paduan Bartolomeo Cristofori. Among its predecessors are instruments such as the zither, monochord, dulcimer, harpsichord and harpsichord (from which the form derives, but not the mechanics).
Throughout history there have been different types of pianos, but the most common are the grand piano and the upright or wall piano. The tuning of the piano is a primary factor in the acoustics of the instrument and is done by modifying the tension of the strings so that they vibrate at the appropriate frequencies.
In Western music, the piano can be used for solo performance, for chamber music, for accompaniment, to help compose, and for rehearsal. The first specific compositions for this instrument emerged around the year 1732; among them are the twelve piano sonatas by Lodovico Giustini entitled Sonate da cimbalo di piano e forte detto volgarmente di martelletti. Since then, there have been many composers who have made works for piano and in many cases those same composers have been pianists. Figures such as Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy or Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky stand out. It was the representative instrument of musical romanticism and has had an important role in society, especially among the wealthier classes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
