How a piano works

You will get the best out of your piano lessons if you know a little about the way it works. All the notes on the piano are set out in a very simple way. The notes sound higher and higher as you move to the right of the keyboard, and lower and lower as you move to the left. This part is more for a beginners piano lesson;, with one finger, try pushing down different white and black keys on your piano, one after the other, and compare their different sounds. Hear how each note sounds higher than the note before as you move to the right, and lower than the note before as you move to the left.

Next on the list in your beginners piano lessons is to open up your piano and see what happens when you play a note. Try this in before you start your lesson, - you can see most of the working parts if you open the lid of a grand piano, or open the top and upper panel of an upright piano. Be careful not to touch the inside parts of the piano or the delicate mechanism could be damaged.

Now play a few notes again, and watch what happens inside the piano. Notice how each note is made when a felt-covered hammer strikes some of the strings. In fact, each note has its own hammer and strings. There are usually three strings for each of the higher sounding 'treble' notes, and two thicker copper-wound strings for each of the lower 'bass' notes. A few of the very lower notes may have only one very thick wire-wrapped string each.

The strings vibrate when a hammer strikes them, and these vibrations are amplified by the piano's curved wooden soundboard to give a loud clear note. The hammers, strings and soundboard all work together to make the piano's distinctive sound. The large wooden soundboard can be seen behind the heavy metal frame which takes the tension of the strings.

Something else happens when a key is struck: a damper felt lifts off the strings for that note, and stays off until the key is released. This is an important feature, because it allows us to control how long a note sounds. Strike a key and hold it down, and the note continues to sound; release the key and the note stops sounding.

Try it. Strike one of the keys on your piano and notice how the note continues to sound until you lift your finger and release the key.

We can also control the loudness of notes: strike a key firmly and the note will be loud, strike gently and the note will be soft.

Finaly to finish of your piano lesson and knowing about the inside of your piano, try striking a key firmly and then gently and compare the loud and soft sounding notes which you hear.

Please continue to the next piano lesson page on how a piano works Next

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