The piano has a long and illustrious history.  Its predecessors are the clavichord and the harpsichord.  These instruments were adequate to entertain the collected guests at a 17th century dinner party but they had one major limitation – the lack of dynamic expression available.  The clavichord is very quiet; the harpsichord was a little louder and can have two keyboards (klaviers) coupled which can increase the volume.  Another limitation to the harpsichord is the fact that the string is plucked by the action and also the muted by the same action when the key is released.  It is true that the piano does this too, but it achieves it in a different way.  You can press the sustain (right hand) pedal to make the strings ring on after releasing the key.

So the hunt was on to design an instrument with the ability to play loud and soft at the player’s demand.  Bartolomeo Cristofori was the most successful designer of such an instrument.  He called it gravicembalo col piano e forte ‘Harpsichord with soft and loud’.  Not the most catchy of names.  This was shortened to Piano e forte, then pianoforte, then piano.

The main difference between a piano and a harpsichord is that the piano flings a hammer at the string instead of plucking it (play a key slowly on the piano and you will find there is a click at the bottom of the key travel.  This is the escapement or let off – the moment the hammer is ‘flung’.  Since the hammer is in free flight, it means the harder the key is struck, the louder the note sounds.  Dynamic range allows far more expression in the music. I will do a later blog post about the details of the action.

The main components of the piano action have changed little since the early 1700s.  This is the real test of a quality design.  The main development was the introduction of the iron frame c.1820 which allowed the string tension to increase and therefore increase the volume available.

There is still a place for the clavichord and harpsichord.  Baroque music sounds more authentic on a harpsichord.  Although J.S. Bach’s music sounds great on a piano (that guy was a genius!) and you can introduce more expression, the purists would say ‘harpsichord or nothing.’

The modern piano’s key trait is its versatility.  It is happy playing baroque, classical, jazz, ragtime, pop and anything else – including Chopsticks.