Piano

The piano is a kind of keyboard instrument in western classical music. It is often used in solo, ensemble, or accompaniment, and convenient for music composition and practice. With the touch of keyboards, pianos make sounds by striking the steel strings with padded hammers. Pianos have wide range in music tones, and their sounds are loud, clear, and versatile, which make them easy to express the music. When playing solo, pianos could be used for all kinds of music ranging from magnificent, broad to sentimental, could also play happy, agile, and skillful music. Pianos are influential in bands, and they are often used as accompaniments. With its rich musical expression, the piano is called "King of Musical instruments."

Structure

According to their constructions, pianos could be categorized as upright or grand. The grand piano is the most primitive style of pianos, which is used in concerts. The strings of upright pianos are interlaced, which renders space and preserves the sound and volume. Pianos are composed of six parts, which are cord rows, soundboards, braces, keyboard systems (including black and white keyboards and hammers for striking), pedal mechanism (including ejectors and pedals) and cases. The general frame of grand and upright pianos are the same. When playing the piano, the notes are written in great staves. Two columns of treble staffs and bass staffs could be used when necessary. One could play the piano with rich expressions and skills such as scales, half-scales. One could also vary pitch intervals, double tones, and chords in different complex music pieces.