| Musical instruments with keyboards have been | | | | for the piano. Soon there were solo piano |
| evolving since 220 B.C. when a Greek engineer named | | | | performances to packed concert halls in Europe and |
| Ctebius created the "Hydraulis" to demonstrate, of all | | | | from there, the piano found its way to Great Britain |
| things, the principle of hydraulics.The Hydraulis led to | | | | and America.Here the piano evolved from a |
| the organ and a technical evolution of that instrument | | | | fashionable status symbol in the mansions of the rare |
| that has spanned centuries.Meanwhile came more | | | | few to the mass assembly lines of Jonas Chickering |
| instruments based on the concept of multiple strings, | | | | and Heinrich Steinweg. Thanks to their industry, the |
| hammers and keyboards. First was the dulcimer, a | | | | public came to regard the piano as a necessary part |
| multi-stringed instrument played with hand-held | | | | of every American household in the late 1800s. |
| hammers. It has been claimed that the dulcimer was | | | | Knowing how to play it was considered the best way |
| invented in the 9th Century A.D. by Persian Abu Nasre | | | | to win admiration, love and respect, especially if you |
| Farabi, who called it a Santur. The dulcimer has even | | | | were a woman.By now the piano had been through all |
| been called "the first piano," but wait. The invention of | | | | manner of transformation: square, vertical upright, |
| the piano is most widely credited to the Italian | | | | grand and variations of same, with all the |
| Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) in the early 1700s.By | | | | accompanying technical changes. Piano design and |
| then, several more stringed keyboard instruments | | | | manufacturing thrived in Germany, Austria, France, |
| including the clavichord and harpsichord had come into | | | | Great Britain and America. But at the turn of the |
| play. The harpsichord couldn't control the sound volume | | | | century, just when the piano had achieved prominence |
| and the clavichord couldn't produce the tone needed | | | | as the primary source of home entertainment, oops, |
| by the artist to perform in large halls. Cristofori had the | | | | here came the movies and the phonograph. Not to |
| solution.Cristofori replaced the string-plucking | | | | mention the player piano, which "automated" what |
| mechanism with leather padded hammers. Now he | | | | many piano owners couldn't do. Then the gramophone |
| had a keyboard instrument that played "piano" | | | | and the radio took over where the player piano left |
| (meaning "soft"), and "forte" (meaning "loud"). This first | | | | off.Renewed public interest didn't hit until the 1930s |
| piano was called "pianoforte."While Johann Sebastian | | | | when piano makers introduced the miniature upright. |
| Bach and others failed to embrace the pianoforte, | | | | From there the piano has reached unprecedented |
| Lodovico Biustini published "Sonate da Cimbalo di Piano | | | | standards of quality through significant technical and |
| e Forte," the first work specifically for piano, in 1732. | | | | cosmetic change brought on by new materials, |
| Yet nearly half a century passed before the next | | | | processes, techniques and innovative genius. Today |
| composer was to write specifically for the piano. It | | | | this amazing 5,000-piece invention is not the household |
| was Muzio Clementi, whose "3 Sonatas, Opus 2" in | | | | staple that it used to be, but it remains a solid |
| 1770 triggered the emergence of the new playing | | | | investment and the treasure of those who find |
| techniques and styles of expression needed to master | | | | fulfillment in the piano as a means of creative |
| the piano.The piano's pivotal turning point arrived in the | | | | expression.Copyright MBPCO 2006 and beyond. |
| late 1770s when Johann Christian Bach redesigned it | | | | Elizabeth Miller is a professional freelance copywriter |
| and more composers came forward with more music | | | | and a general partner in Miller Bridges Partners. |