The piano is an amazing instrument used all over the world to express one’s feelings, emotions, and talent. The piano is used for entertainment, but for many, it’s used in a personal way to express feelings in a musical way. Obviously each musical instrument is unique to their own time period and no doubt the piano has been around for a while. It has gone through many changes in it’s time- changing along with the modern music of the day. I believe the piano has adapted over the years more so than other instruments. Reviewing how and when the piano changed as well as the modern piano is a great way to appreciate its worth and uniqueness.
Like everything else in existence, the piano has an origin. Stringed instruments had been around for a while, but to put such chords in a box was a different story. At around 1700, a man by the name of Bartolomeo Christofori from Padua, Italy ("Piano"). Christofori worked for the prince at the time, and was an expert of musical instruments. It is commonly thought that he had hoped to create an instrument that could be played with a loud sound, while still have smooth control, as if for musical concerts. It took a while for this new instrument to catch on, but once it did, it only kept improving. Consider that Gottfried Silbermann, an organ builder, constructed the piano with a small, yet important, personal touch-a foot pedal. For todays pianos, the foot pedal is standard and often very important. By 1747, Silbermann pianos were even accepted by the famous Johann Sebastian Bach. By the late 1700’s, pianos were growing even more popular. Viennese makers produced wooden pianos that had what we know to be opposite key colors (black for the primary keys, and white for the accents). Wolfgang Amadeus ...
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...ese reasons and more show just how the piano adjusted over time.
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To Berniece, Boy Willie, and Doaker, the piano means different things. To Berniece, the piano acts as a piece of her ancestors, and whenever she uses it, she can sense her deceased family who used it in the past. To Boy Willie, it represents just a piece of property that can be sold to collect more money for the family. Lastly, to Doaker, the piano exists as a piano that is both good and bad for the family, but still has to be kept based on the history inside of it. The piano to him portrays itself as an instrument that is good and bad for the family, but they have to keep it because it is an artifact. Although they all have different thoughts on the piano, Berniece, Boy Willie, and Doaker can all agree on one thing: the piano is an artifact of family history.
ever changing and there was a very good uses of all the keys of the piano.
Next we come to a point in time where a great leap had to be made. Musicians had made positive steps forward in the way of pitch and time but of only one or two notes at a time. What was needed was an in instrument that gave players control of many pitches simultaneously. The mechanism ...
As duke’s piano lessons faded into the past, Duke began to show an interest for the artistic. Duke went to Armstrong Manual Tra...
...rtuosity in Clara Schumann's Piano Compositions." Musicological Explorations 11 (Spring 2010): 45-90. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
The Web. 21 Oct 2010. Writer, Staff. The "mechanical piano 40 (MP40)." www.militaryfactory.com.
As for piano, the type of wood used to make the instrument has a great effect on the quality of sound produced. Certain woods resonate better than others and thus create a better tone. In fact, many lower-priced clarinets are made of plastic and although they provide a serviceable tone, it is not the rich, "wooden" tone coveted by professionals.
Over an extensive amount of time, the piano has developed into what we commonly see today. Through the improvement in the production of dynamics and the development of the pedals, it has become a popular instrument that is used for a variety of genres apart from classical music, such as jazz and contemporary. There are a variety of models available, such as the grand piano, where the harpsichord and forte piano originated from, as well as the upright piano.
In the play “The Piano Lesson”, August Wilson utilizes two main characters Boy Willie and Berniece to present the theme of gender roles and sexual politics. The reaction of the siblings toward the piano illustrates the role of a man and woman during the conflict. Throughout the entire play they argue over the piano and struggle with an underlying problem of choosing to honor their ancestors or leaving the family’s history in the past. Boy Willie wants to show respect to his ancestors by selling the piano to continue the Charles’s family legacy. He wants to buy Sutter’s land because Sutter was a white slave master who forced his ancestors to work on the land. However, Berniece wants to keep the piano and doesn’t want to use it because of fear. The disagreement between the siblings shows the play’s representation of gender differences.
Doaker states, “ it was the story of our whole family and as long as Sutter had it … he had us” (1167). As long as Sutter had the piano, they felt he owned the whole family. What her family did to take that piano was something that could cost them their lives but that didn’t stop them. All Boy Charles, Doaker, and Wining Boy wanted was to get the piano back to the place it belonged and that was staying in their family. This piano wasn’t a regular piano, it has so much meaning for example the carvings on this piano are pictures of their ancestors and each picture has a story behind it that’s why Berniece is holding onto it so tight and doesn’t want it to be sold off. The history behind this piano is something that can’t be replaced you must treasure it
Music has shaped the lives of people throughout history. Even in its earliest forms, music has included use of instruments. One of the oldest musical instruments known is a variation of the flute; the original flute is thought to date back nearly 67,000 years ago. Tonight we are going to move throughout the eras with a history of instrumental music. This concert will begin with the Renaissance Era and continue through time until we have reached modern instrumental music.
The piano held symbolic significance in the story of the family and their struggle to move forward. The piano represents the importance and value of slaves during slavery. Slaves were traded for objects during slavery. Slaves were of no importance to their slave owners. As Doaker says in the story “now she had her piano and her niggas too”, meaning slaves were nothing more than an accessory to their slave owners (Wilson 395). Doaker sarcastically speaks of how slaves were not considered humans but property. As Sandy Alexandre states in her work, “Property and Inheritance in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson”, “Doaker sees greed where there should be something like repulsion or at least a semblance of hesitation to accept such an ill-begotten gift”(77). Alexandre argues slaves are not given the proper respect and are not considered equal. This specific event from the story shows how little to ...
Bie, Oscar. A History of the Pianoforte and Pianoforte Players. trans. by E. E. Kellett
Wendkos, Zach. “The Evolution of the Electric Guitar”. 21 May 2010. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
The Baroque Masters lecture performance by Dr. Yelena Grinberg showcased a selection of keyboard works composed during the Baroque Ear (1600-1750) by t Baroque Masters George Frederic Handel, Domenico Scarlatti, and Johann Sebastian Bach. The ideal of the Baroque period was that music should not only be pleasing, but it must also induce very strong, visceral emotions and stir the passions of the soul. Some important features of the Baroque ear are the precise and elevated rhythms, clear and defined meter, irregular or embellished melodies, and an enriched and unified texture which was he together by the ongoing ground bass known as basso continuo. Although each of these Baroque Masters composed music that was highly reflective of the Baroque