Below is a brief history of the evolution of the piano

THE PIANO is a complex musical instrument that has evolved over 5 or more centuries from other similar instruments such as the harpsichord and clavichord. The desire of performers to be able to control the loudness and softness as well as the emotion or dynamics of playing, led to the evolution of the modern piano. The harpsichord and clavichord do not afford the performer this control objective. When you play the key of a harpsichord, the strings are “plucked” by a plectrum. When you play the key of a clavichord the string is struck by a metal tangent.                                               

                                               Clavichord

                                Dual Keyboard Harpshichord

The Cristofori Piano

Credit goes to Italian harpsichord maker Bartolommeo Cristofori who in 1709 created a four octave instrument with hammers that strike the strings, which allowed the player to control, somewhat, the loudness of playing. He called the instrument Gravicembalo col Piano e Forte (Harpsichord with soft and loud). Since that time there have been many evolutions and improvements to the piano. The instrument’s name changed to fortepiano, then to pianoforte.  The instrument is normally referred to by its shortened name: "piano."

                            Cristofori Piano, Circa 1722

Piano Improvements

The goal of “performer control” has led to many improvements in piano design. Improvements to the mechanism, or what’s known as the “action”, allows for more precise response of key touch to hammer strike in adition to repetition. The addition of pedals that allow a player to sustain notes and shift the action to create a different tone came about in the latter part of the 1700s. Many experiments took place throughout the years, including pianos with up to five pedals that triggered different effects.

Many piano makers in the mid 1700s to the late 1800s adapted the pianoforte to a cabinet resembling a clavichord calling it a Square Grand Piano.

                                 Steinway Square Piano from about 1870

With some exceptions, the piano now has 88 notes or 71/2 octaves. The need to project music in large venues and the desire to produce a rich tone, led to other developments such as the cast iron plate, three string unisons, cross over bass strings, and many other advances in design of scale, cabinet, and material.

Vertical Pianos

Piano makers experimented with vertical or upright pianos. The first successful upright piano was built in 1800.  For the last 70 years or so, vertical pianos have been built in many sizes from  small spinets, to consoles, to studio uprights.

                                          Modern Vertical Upright

The Player Piano

In the late 1800s, many piano manufacturers produced "player pianos". A player works by creating a vacuum by pumping two pedals with your feet, which operates suction bellows. Each note has its own pneumatic, which collapses on cue from a hole in the "piano roll", when it passes over its valve. This causes the note to play. There were many variations of the "player." At first, the player mechanism was a stand-alone device that was pushed up to the piano. This device had little dowels acting as fingers projecting downward striking the key. Later, the mechanisms were built inside the player. The player is still alive. Today players are computer operated. In place of a roll, computer discs and CDs activate the mechanism.

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                           1913 Steck Player Piano

The Modern Piano

There has not been much change in the basic design of the piano and its action in the last 120 years or so. A piano consists of thousand of parts, mostly wood. Piano manufacturers experiment with different materials to incorporate in the basic design of the piano. Some work, others don’t. Some piano makers such as Steinway and Schimmel have created modern case styles. Two examples are shown below.

                                      Steinway Rhapsody Grand

                                            Schimmel Pegasus Grand

THE PIANO INDUSTRY 

From the invention of the piano in the early 1700s to the late 1800s, the majority of piano manufacturers were located in Europe. Immigrants to the United States brought piano making skills here in the early and mid 1800s. For about 100 years, between 1870 and 1970, the U.S. was the dominant piano manufacturing nation, with over 1,000 piano manufacturers. Today there are only a handful of piano factories in the U.S.  The Asian countries of Japan, Korea, and China, now lead the world in piano making.

Today, many partnerships exist among piano makers to produce pianos at every economic point.   Many well know names of long-gone U.S. pianos are now found on pianos made in Asia.  For the past ten years or so, in the United States, there have been approximately 100,000 grand and upright pianos delivered to dealers every year   This is compared to about 300,000 pianos delivered in the U.S. 30 years ago.

The Digital Piano

I would be remiss if I did not address the digital piano.   The digital or electronic piano has been around for about 50 years.  The digital piano market has increased from about 75,000 pianos delivered in 1998 to about 145,000 pianos delivered in 2005.  The digital piano resembles a piano in that it has a keyboard and when you press the key a note is played.  But that is where the similarities end.  The sound is created by electronic impulses.  Some digital keyboards offer an amazing array of sound and options and some have made remarkable improvements in the "piano tone" and even touch.  However, the digital piano does not offer the essence of tone and touch as the evolved pianoforte.

There is a place for digital pianos.  They are bona-fide musical instruments that play an important role in music production and performance.  In addition, the price of quality digital pianos has decreased with the technology production improvements.   Digital pianos have just about replaced the inexpensive accoustic piano market.     

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