Fun Facts about Pianos!

1. Christie's Auction House recently sold a Vicorian Steinway grand piano
     for $1.2 MILLION DOLLARS! The piano was sold to the Sterling and Francine
     Clark Art Institute of Williamstown, Massachusetts.
   
   
2. What famous piano company was Engelhard Steinweg the founder of?
   
   Maybe this will help. In 1853 he Americanized his name to Henry E.
     Steinway!
   1997 was the 150th Anniversary of his famous Steinway Pianos!
   
   Heinrich E came to the States in 1850 at which time he and three of his sons
     each acquired employment working for four different piano makers. In 1853 he
     founded Steinway & Sons which is when he Americanized his name (at the time
     Broadwood pianos was doing well, so he thought it an intelligent marketing
     decision to anglicize their last name.) He was born in 1797, making 1997 was
   the  200th Anniversary of his birth.
   
   
3. That the piano is known as "The King of Instruments"? The
     piano earned this title for a number of reasons including it's tonal range (
   the  piano covers the full spectrum of any instrument in the orchestra from
   below the  lowest note of the double bassoon to above the top note of the
   piccolo), it's  ability to produce melody and accompaniment at the same time
   (try that on a  flute) and it's broad dynamic range. It is also the largest
   musical instrument  (excluding the pipe organ), most versatile and one of the
   most interesting.
   
   
4. That the average medium size piano has about 230 strings,
   
   each string having about 165 pounds of tension,
   with the
     combined pull of all strings equaling approximately eighteen tons
     !
   
   
5. The total string tension in a concert grand is close to Thirty
     Tons!
   
   
6. That a boxed model D Steinway Grand Piano weighs 1400 Pounds !
   
   
   
7. That six Steinways are now in the Smithsonian collection.
   
   
8. The working section of the piano is called the action. There are about
   7500 parts here, all playing a role in sending the hammers against
     the strings when keys are struck.
   
   
9. A new piano should be tuned four times the first year,
     with the change of seasons, and at least twice a year after that.
   
   
   
10. There are over 10 MILLION pianos in American homes,
      businesses, and institutions.
    
    
11. The first practical piano with an
      escapement mechanism for the hammers and capable of being played softly and
      loudly was built in 1700 by an Italian, Bartolomeo Cristofori
      (1655-1731).(see Christofori)
    The Smithsonian  in Washington,
    DC is celebrating the 300th anniversary of the piano with a  wonderful exhibit
    that runs through March 2001. For more information.
    
    
12. Cristofori made few pianos, his attention was to the building of
      harpsichords.
    
    
13. The name piano is an abbreviation of Cristofori's original name for
      the instrument: piano et forte or soft and loud.
    
    
14. Spinet pianos were made by Samuel Blythe as early as 1789 at
      Salem, Mass.
    
    
15. The term Grand was first used in 1777.
    
    
16. Abraham Lincoln used Chickering Grand #5070 while at the White House.
    
    
    
17. During 1869 the US produced 25,000 pianos valued at $7,000,000,
      during 1910 production was 350,000 pianos valued at $100,000,000 !
    
    
18. The term "Tickle the Ivorys" refers to playing the ivory keys of the piano,
      however, ivory has not been used to make piano keys since about the 1950's
    (they  are plastic, sometimes referred to as "Ivorine").
    
    
19. That there are currently over 50 Brand Names of pianos?
    
    
20. During the past 100 years there have been approximately 5000
      Brands of pianos placed on the market. Most are still on display in
      homes or elsewhere.
    
    
21. Pianos are made of thousands of pieces of wood glued together to form
      various parts of the playing mechanism as well as the cabinet. Felt, buckskin,
      paper, steel, iron, copper, and other materials are also used.
    
    
22. Don't forget to visit PianoSuppies.com for piano lamps, bench
      cushions, tuning equipment and more !
    Or the Piano  Book Store for great books about pianos .
    
    
    
23. Independent studies show that children who learn piano tend to do
      better in school. This is attributed to the discipline, eye-hand
      coordination, social skills building, learning a new language (music) and the
      pleasure derived from making your own music.
    
    
24. It should also be noted here that anyone considering a career in any facet
      of music should consider studying the piano . Many music schools require at
      least one semester of piano, regardless of your major.
    
    
25. Over the years there have been many attempts at "improving" the piano. One
      such experiment was to replace some of the wooden action parts with plastic. It
      didn't work, they cracked with age. (If you own one of these pianos, you might
      want to check out Piano Tuners to get it  repaired or even Piano Dealers to replace  it).
    There were many
    other ideas that tried and failed including the Jensen  piano which had 2
    keyboards, a vertical grand, one that had a keyboard that was  more like a
    typewriter and many others.
    
    
26. "You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish"
    Answer: Sure you can,
      you just adjust it's scales!.(Sorry, I had to throw that one in!)(For more
      jokes? of this type see The Funnys in the Table Of Contents)
    
    
27. Presidential Pianos Courtesy of the Pierce Piano
    Atlas
    1st President - George  Washington - Longman
    & Broderip Harpsichord; Schoen & Vinsen Pianoforte
    2nd President -
    John Adams - Currier & Co.
    3rd President - Thomas  Jefferson - Astor
    Pianoforte
    4th President - James Madison - Square Grand  (name destroyed by
    fire)
    5th President - James Monroe - Astor Piano
    6th  President - John
    Quincy Adams - Currier & Co.
    7th President - Andrew  Jackson - T.
    Gilbert & Co. Square Piano
    8th President - Martin Van Buren  - Hallet
    & Cumston Square Piano
    9th President - William Henry Harrison -  Haines
    Brothers
    10th President - John Tyler - Thomas Tomkinson Upright Piano
    
    11th President - James Knox Polk - Astor & Harwood Square Piano
    12th
      President - Zachary Taylor - name unknown
    13th President - Millard Fillmore
      - name unknown
    14th President - Franklin Pierce - Chickering Square Piano
    
    15th President - James Buchanan - Chickering Grand Piano
    16th President
      - Abraham Lincoln - Chickering Square Piano & Chickering Upright
    17th
      President - Andrew Johnson - Steinway & Sons Square Piano
    18th
    President  - Ulysses S. Grant - Melodeon
    19th President - Rutherford B.
    Hayes -  Bradbury Upright & Harpsichord (name destroyed by fire)
    20th
    President -  James A. Garfield - Hallet & Davis Upright
    21st President -
    Chester A.  Arthur - Piano cannot be located.
    22nd President - Grover
    Cleavland -  Combination Piano & Harpsichord (name destroyed by fire)
    
    23rd President  - Benjamin Harrison - J. & C. Fischer Upright Piano,
    Haines Brothers Square
    24th President - Grover Cleveland - (same as above)
    
    25th President -  William McKinley - A. H. Gale Co. Square Piano
    26th
    President - Theodore  Roosevelt - Chickering Upright, Steinway Grand Piano
    
    27th President -  William Howard Taft - Baldwin Grand Piano
    28th
    President - Woodrow Wilson -  Ernst Rosenkranst Square Piano, Knabe Grand
    
    29th President - Warren G.  Harding - A. B. Chase Electric Player Piano
    
    30th President - Calvin Coolidge  - Sohmer Upright Piano
    31st President
    - Herbert Hoover - Knabe Grand &  A. B. Chase Grand
    32nd President -
    Franklin D. Roosevelt - Hardman Grand
    33rd President - Harry S. Truman -
    Steinway Grand, Baldwin Grand &  Steinway Upright
    34th President -
    Dwight D. Eisenhower - Hallet &  Cumston Upright
    35th President - John
    F. Kennedy - Ivers & Pond Grand  Piano
    36th President - Lyndon B.
    Johnson - Style L. Steinway, Knabe Console
    37th President - Richard M. Nixon
    - Geo. P. Bent Upright, Baldwin Vertical
    38th President - Gerald Ford - No
    personal piano
    39th President - James  (Jimmy) Carter - Ludden & Bates
    
    40th President - Ronald Reagan - Steinway Grand
    41st President - George
    Bush - Did not own personal piano.
    42nd President - William (Bill) Clinton -
    Baldwin Grand in the Governor's  Mansion.
    43rd President - George W. Bush -
    No personal piano. Steinway Grand  in the White House residence.S
    
    
28. Jonas Chickering was the first exporter of American made pianos. First
      shipment to India 1844.
    
    
29. Yamaha, established in 1887 was the first piano manfacturer in Japan.
    
    
30. That pianos were the first meaningful brand names, the first Status Symbol,
      and the first major items sold on an installment basis, which was the
      cornerstone of several major banking institutions of today.
    
    
31. A grand piano action is faster than a vertical (spinet, console, upright)
      because it has a repetition lever. This allows the pianist to repeat the note
      when it is only half way up. A vertical action requires letting the key all the
      way up to reset the hammer action.
    
    
32. Piano Sizes
    Concert Grand - 8' 11" and larger
    Half Concert Grand -
    7'4"
    Parlour Grand 6'8"
    Drawing Room Grand - 6'4"
    Professional Grand
    - 6'
    Living Room Grand - 5'10"
    Baby Grand - 5'8"
    Upright - 51" and
      up
    Vertical - 36" - 51"
    Studio - 44" or taller
    Console to 42"
    
    Spinet - 36" to 38"
    
    
33. The worlds largest piano is a Challen Concert Grand. This piano is 11
      feet long, has a total string tension of over 30 tons and weighs more than a
    ton  !!
    
    
34. The term A-440 concert pitch refers to A above middle C vibrating at 440
      cycles per second.
    
    
35. The first note (on a standard 88 note keyboard) is A .
    
    
36. The exact middle of the keyboard is not middle C, it is actually the space
      between E and F above "middle" C.
    
    
37. The last note of the keyboard is C.
    
    
38. The Bösendorfer Imperial concert grand piano is 9' 6" long and has 9
      extra keys stretching to a growling C below bottom C ! (The Imperial grand
      sold for $55,000 in 1980!) The 9' and 7' 4" grands have four extra bass keys,
      the lowest of which is F below bottom C.
    
    
39. Comma (or coma) -- A minute interval or difference in the pitches of
      the same musical tone occasioned by different systems of tuning. The comma
    of  Didymus is an interval such as that between two enharmonically
    equivalent  notes like B-sharp and C-natural, an amount of 24 cents. (cents are
    1/100th of a  semitone) The syntonic comma is the interval between a just
    major third  (5:4) and a Pythagorean third (81:84). The comma of
    Pythagoras (known  also as the ditonic comma) is the difference
    between a cycle of just  fifths and seven perfect octaves. In equal temperament
    tuning this comma is  absorbed by the diminishing of each successive fifth in
    the cycle by the amount  of 1/12th of the comma.
    
    
40. Paul Janko, Austria, constructed a keyboard of six tiers, one above
      the other -- runs and arpeggios made less difficult than on regular piano
      keyboard.
    
    
41. Silver, glass, gold and silk were used in making strings for musical
      instruments.
    
    
42. Zumpe created the square piano in England in 1760.
    
    
43. Beethoven's Studio Piano is in the National Museum, Vienna, AustrIa.
    
    
44. The first patent issued to H. Steinway, New York, was May 5, 1857.
    
    
45. Gustavus Hessilens made a spinet piano in Philadelphia in 1742.
    
    
46. G. Hoffman built a symetrically rounded piano in 1804.
    
    
47. M. Welte and Son of Freiburg, Germany and Ludwig Hupfeld introduced the
      reproducing pianos about 1904.
    
    
48. Sebastian Erard made the first French Square piano in 1777 and the first
      grand in 1796.
    
    
49. John Broadwood enlarged the strings in the square piano, used two thick
      strings instead of three thinner ones and moved the wrest plank from the right
      side to the bottom of the case in 1788.
    
    
50. Johann Christian Schleip built many vertical pianos known as the "Giraffe
      Piano".
    
    
51. Johann Behrent built the first piano in America at Philadelphia in
      1775 under the name "Piano Forte".
    
    
52. Mangeot of Paris built a piano with reversible keyboards in 1876.
    
    
    
53. Sebastian Erard built a piano and organ combined for Marie
      Antoinette.
    
    
54. Piano Row was located on 14th Street, New York. This was the
      headquarters of such fine pianos as Steinway, Steck, Behning, Bradbury, Sohmer
      and many others.
    
    
55. As far back as 1901, Estey stated they had manufactured and sold 325,000
      organs.
    
    
56. Nickelodeon is a general term used to describe various electrical
      coin operated pianos.
    
    
57. The first census giving figures for instrument makers was in 1860 which was
      223 - about 110 were piano manufacturers.
    
    
58. About 1870 Daniel F. Beatty advertised rosewood square grands for
      $255.
    
    
59. Piano player was developed 1863 with push up cabinet, with wooden
      felt covered fingers that depressed keys. R.W. Pain was probably the first to
      build a pneumatic self playing piano, a 39 note self contained player for
      Needham & Sons in 1880.
    
    
60. J.C. Stoddard, Worcester, Massachusetts, invented the Calliope in
      1855.
    
    
61. A drop of 1/2 step in pitch can equal a change of 3000 to 5000 Pounds of
      tension! (Now you know why it is important to keep your piano tuned).
    
    
62. How did the modern keyboard evolve? See this page.
    
    
63. The YamahaTM piano company produces a new
      piano that sells for $333,000! more on
    this.
    
    
64. Pianists have more efficient brains! more on  this.
    
    
65. Piano
    World receives millions of hits a month from  piano lovers and
    our Piano
    Forums  has thousands of members! Who says the piano isn't still
    popular? ;-)
    
    
66. For more fun, check out the listings under "Fun and Interesting" in the left
      nav, or visit our Directory
    
    
67. More Fun Facts Coming.

Like to know how a piano is made?

See How a Piano  Is Made ... How a Mason & Hamlin
grand piano is built.

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