What is the difference between a piano and a piano?

One of the common questions is puzzling and confusing for many people. This is a question about the difference between a piano and a piano. Some try to identify the signs of both, and sometimes even surprise the musicians, distinguishing the piano and the piano by size, sound quality, color, and even smell with taste. Many times different people asked me about this, but now I deliberately asked such a question to myself in order to give an answer in this article for all those who are still tormented by doubts.

But the thing is that a musical instrument with a solid piano name does not exist, as it were! How so? - the reader may be indignant. It turns out that the piano word refers to all keyboard musical instruments, the sound of which arises from the impact of hammers connected to the keys on the strings. There are only two such instruments - a piano and a piano. The piano has become a collective name for the piano and grand pianos - forms most common in musical practice. Nobody confuses them with each other.

However, in fairness, it is worth saying that the first instruments of this kind with a hammer mechanism were still called pianos, or more precisely pianoforte, due to the ability to produce sounds of different loudness. By the way, the name of the piano originated from the combination of two Italian words: fortewhich means "strong, loud" and pianothat is, "quiet." The hammer mechanism was invented by the Italian master Bartolomeo Cristofori somewhere at the junction of the 17th and 18th centuries and was intended to modernize the harpsichord (an ancient keyboard instrument, the predecessor of the piano, the strings of which did not strike the hammer, but were stitched with a small feather).

Christopher's piano in its form was similar to a piano, the only thing that was not yet called. The name "piano" came from the French language; this word means "royal" in translation. So, the French dubbed the piano Christopher the "royal harpsichord". Piano is translated from Italian as "little piano". This tool appeared 100 years later. Its inventors, masters Hawkins and Muller, guessed to change the arrangement of the strings and mechanisms from horizontal to vertical, which contributed to the reduction in the size of the piano. So a piano appeared - a “small” piano.