What is Piano?
{{Infobox Instrument |name = Piano |image = Grand piano and upright piano.jpg |image_capt = A grand piano (left) and an upright piano (right) |background = keyboard |hornbostel_sachs = 314.122-4-8 |hornbostel_sachs_desc = Simple [[chordophone]] with [[Musical keyboard|keyboard]] sounded by hammers |inventors = [[Bartolomeo Cristofori]] |musicians = [[Pianist]]s ([[Lists of pianists]]) |developed = Early 18th century |range = [[File:PianoRange.tif|frameless]] }} The '''piano''' is an [[acoustic instrument|acoustic]], [[keyboard instrument|keyboard]] and [[stringed musical instrument]] in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a [[musical keyboard|keyboard]], which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. It was invented in Italy by [[Bartolomeo Cristofori]] around the year 1700 (the exact year is uncertain). [[Image:Boesendorfer 002.jpg|thumb|300px|A Boesendorfer grand piano]] [[File:De Pianoles door Henriëtte Ronner-Knip.jpg|thumb|Henriëtte Ronner-Knip (1897)]] == History == The piano has been an extremely popular instrument in Western [[classical music]] since the late 18th century. The piano was invented by [[Bartolomeo Cristofori]] of [[Padua]], [[Italy]]. He made his first piano in 1709. It developed from the [[clavichord]] which looks like a piano but the strings of a clavichord are hit by a small blade of [[metal]] called a “tangent”.<ref>The New Dictionary of Music and Musicians ed Stanley Sadie; 1980. vol 4, p.458</ref> In the piano the strings are hit by a block of wood called a hammer. The early keyboarded instruments, such as the clavichords, [[harpsichord]]s and [[pipe organ|organs]] that were used at that time, had a much s