Grand Piano Research Paper

Since the beginning of time, musical instruments have played a major role in society, especially the piano. Throughout its lifetime, the piano has grown and changed greatly as well as gained popularity extremely fast. “The pianoforte […] became, by the last quarter of the eighteenth century, a leading instrument of Western art music” (Powers, Wendy). Over the last three hundred years, the piano has kept the same look, but has developed immensely in tone and power.
Before the invention of the piano, there were two instruments that had similar keyboard-like features; the Harpsichord and the Clavichord. “Until the mid-eighteenth century, the Harpsichord was the keyboard instrument that was indispensable in concert music, opera and chamber music” (Abbot, Graham). The Harpsichord, similar the piano now, was an instrument
In size, it can be relatively anywhere between four and a half foot wide to eight-foot-wide; sometimes even getting up to eleven-foot-wide (S., Suzy). The strings of the grand piano are designed to be horizontally perpendicular to the keyboard (S., Suzy). This is just a mechanically advanced technique that is used in order to enhance the sound quality of the piano. “In general, the larger the grand piano, the longer the strings are the greater the timbre or sound quality it produces” (S., Suzy). An additional way to enhance sound quality of the grand piano would be to simply just open the lid. This feature is the reason that the grand piano is mainly used in concerts or for performances in large facilities. Instead of the sound just coming at the pianist, the sound is shot towards the audience. Therefore, the grand piano is the piano that is the most ideal when it comes to sound and performance power. The power of it is an extremely important aspect of the piano. The square piano, on the other hand, is the complete opposite when it comes to a quality