* The piano is one of the musical instruments that was first invented in Italy in 1709 AD by the inventor of the guitar, Bartolomeo Cristofori, and the name of the piano was derived from the word (pianoforte), which means the high sound, and it is a very complex instrument;  It consists of an iron frame made of cast iron, containing inside it strings and hammers for the purpose of issuing the usual notes.

 * In addition to 2,000 fixed parts, 10,000 moving parts, and 88 keys ranging in colors from white to black, it is worth noting that these keys were manufactured from elephant ivory until the mid-nineties of the last century, before their raw material was replaced with plastic to protect elephants and preserve them from  Extinction,

 * These are: Keyboard, Hammers, Frame, Soundboard, and Action Devices.

 Piano inventor:

 * The invention of the piano is attributed to the Italian Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori, who was born in 1655 AD in a region called Padua in Italy, and his role was not limited to the invention of the piano, but also to the development and improvement of this instrument, so by the year 1726 AD, Cristofori had reached all the basics found in the piano  Speaking, the wooden piano frames were unable to withstand the stress of striking strings inside the guitar case,

 * Which required several attempts to develop it to reach what it is now, and it should be noted that the three pianos made by Christophore are still in existence today, as one is in the Musical Instruments Museum in Leipzig, while the other is in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art  And the last is in the Musical Instruments Museum in Rome, and it is noteworthy that Christofrey died in 1732 AD in Florence.  The motives that made Cristofori invent the piano were not mentioned, but there are chances that the beginning of the story dates back to 1688 AD.

 * When Prince Ferdinando de Medici, son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, traveled to Venice to attend the carnival held there at the time, and he was a lover of music and a passion for musical instruments, it was said that he met Cristofori during his return trip in Padua, so he appointed him as a new technician interested in musical instruments instead of the previous worker after his death  He was responsible for the repair and maintenance of his large collection of musical instruments, in addition to the prince's desire to appoint Cristofori as a maker of musical instruments.

 * The year 1688 AD was considered one of the most important stages of Christophore's life, as he proved his worth with the Prince during that period, which prompted the Prince to offer him a salary that exceeds what he offered to his predecessors, and to give him a furnished house in Florence that he moved to live in 1688 AD when he assumed the position of guarding machines  The prince and his tools before he is thirty-five years old.

 * In 2650 BC, the Chinese invented a stringed musical instrument that they called "ke", which consisted of strings stretched to a wooden box with a movable bridge. It was later developed and inspired by another instrument called the "Monochord", so that the Mnocord is also witnessing an evolution that represents  In adding a drawbridge that produces more notes,

 * After that, the Japanese Hideki Kitamura added keys to the monocord that emit different vocal tones, and at the beginning of the fourteenth century AD, a machine inspired by the mankord was invented after the additions.  Later improvements by placing more stringed chains and fixing them with nails to improve the vibration of the strings, and this machine was called a "clavichord", while this machine was later developed by placing pieces of cloth between its strings to dampen the vibration between the strings and thus control its movement, in addition to increasing the keys to facilitate  Play it.

 * The modifications then led to the design of the spinet, as the player on this instrument was able to control the intensity of the notes issued by it, followed by the design of the harpsichord, which was presented as one of the faces of the spinet instrument, and by the seventeenth century  AD, the hammer was added to the Harviscord instrument to make this new instrument called "pianoforte". The Pianoforte was the idea that Christofori inspired the piano.

 * Where he designed wooden hammers to strike these strings with keys attached to them in 1720 AD, which led to the invention of the piano later, after a series of attempts made by Cristofori in his shop for making guitars and stringed instruments with keys, located in Padua, Italy, where he started  He developed these machines since 1709 AD to reach this invention.

 * The old piano differs from the modern piano, so the piano did not contain metal plates that support it as is the case in the modern piano, in addition to its light weight because it lacks many parts in the modern piano, while the sound produced by the old piano can be likened to a mixture between  The sounds made by old guitars found in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and the sounds the current piano makes.

 * The evolution of the piano over time;  The square piano was designed in Germany in the beginning of 1742 AD, which spread widely in popularity between London and beyond to St. Petersburg, in contrast to the first design of Christophore, and then appeared after him in 1781 AD the grand piano designed by John Broadwood, and this was reinforced  The piano is due to vibrating strings when pressing the pedals in it, then the Fort Piano in 1830 AD, which was owned by Adolf von Menzel, one of the famous German painters, was holding concerts in his home,

 * It is noteworthy that many musicians such as Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelson, and Clara Schumann played this piano, before the appearance of Stein Square Piano, which was distinguished by its hammers covered with leather;  It added a new feature that made the hammer touch of the tendon light and responsive.  Then appeared the piano developed by Sebastian Erard, through which he obtained a patent because he was able to combine Vienna's music with English music,

 * The speed of response that enables the player to repeat notes quickly and forcefully. This was followed by the invention of the "Streicher" piano, whose construction was considered the height of the building of the piano in Vienna at that time, and then came the grand piano "Bechstein", and in 1878 AD were the concerts held in Europe with  Top pianists play this piano, thanks to its distinctive velvety color and the strength of its iron frame.

 How does the piano work:

 * The piano has the advantage of being different from any other musical instrument, as it is a combination of two musical instruments, one of which is a string represented by the inner strings, and the other percussion represented by the hammers in the box, where the latter is connected to a keyboard consisting of 88 keys, each of which produces a different melody from the other key.  This is done by the movement of the tip of the inner key when pressed, and the hammer fixed inside will then be lifted,

 * Which, in turn, strikes one of the taut strings inside the piano guitar and produces one of the notes, but when the finger is raised from the key, this will lead to its descent, and thus to the drop of the damper (in English: damper) located behind the hammer and in contact with the string, which will end the musical note.

 * There are three steps in the piano responsible for changing the volume, determining the length of the notes, and controlling their weakness or strength, so when pressing the soft pedal on the left, for example, most of the keys will press two or three groups of stringed strings, resulting in a loud sound and a clear tone,  When you press the pedal to the right, it will lift all the tone suppressants off the strings so that the tone lasts longer.

 * When you press the middle pedal, which is called the "sostenuto" pedal, it will slide the hammers to one side so that they connect with fewer strings, which creates calm and soft tones.

 * The oldest piano is distinctly different from the modern piano, among these differences is that the modern piano contains eighty-eight keys instead of the fifty-four that the old piano used to contain, in addition to the fact that the sound range in the old piano is shorter than in its modern counterpart, and the strings  The thin and powerful hammers of the modern piano give a much better performance and make it different in sound from the first piano invented by Cristofori,

 * Therefore, a Cristoforian piano is suitable for solo playing because of its light sound that cannot be heard from long distances, which makes it unsuitable for loud concerts, while a modern piano is suitable for collective playing because of its loud and clear sound, despite what is taken from its inability to project  The skill of the player is due to his lack of the musical gradation characteristic that gives the note its distinction.