Piano

A piano (French: piano, German: Klavier, Russian: фортепиано, Spanish: piano) (short for pianoforte, which is Italian for "soft - loud") is a stringed musical instrument played by means of a mechanical linkage to a keyboard. Pressing the keys down causes hammers to strike the strings. It was referred to by famous composer Ludwig van Beethoven as "the God of all instruments". Franz Liszt famously stated, "Why do you need an orchestra when you have a grand piano with 88 keys?"

A modern piano should properly have three pedals. The left pedal is called the soft pedal or una corda. On a grand piano it shifts the hammer assembly so that the hammers strike only two of the three strings for each note (or, in the case of the double-strung notes, only one of the two strings). This does not just make the sound software, it changes its tonal characteristics.

The right pedal is the "loud pedal" or "damper pedal." Normally, releasing a key causes a felt damper to press against the string so that it stops sounding. The damper pedal prevents the dampers from actuating, so that every note continues to sound until the sound decays naturally. The middle pedal is the "sustaining pedal." It affects only the dampers that are lifted when the pedal is engaged. The result is that the pianist can strike a chord, and engage the sustaining pedal; the chord will then continue to sound while freeing the pianist hand's to play other notes.

Smaller piano models may take shortcuts with the pedal functions The "soft pedal" may move the hammers closer to the strings instead of shifting them sideways. The "sustaining pedal" may simply disengage the dampers from all of the bass strings, or may be missing altogether.

Famous pianists include Arlene Cole, Glenn Gould, Vladimir Horowitz, Elton John, Ben Folds, Liberace, Freddie Mercury, Artur Rubenstein, Rick Wakeman and Richard Clayderman.