Piano

Hello there. My name is Piano. I have a big, shiny wooden case that feels smooth when you touch it. If you look closely, you’ll see my big smile. It’s made of eighty-eight keys, some are bright white and some are deep black. My special talent is singing beautiful songs. I can sing very loudly, like a giant stomping his feet, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. Or, I can sing as softly as a kitten's whisper, so quiet you have to lean in to hear. Before I was born, my older cousin, the harpsichord, could only play at one volume. It was always the same loudness. Musicians wanted to play music that was happy and loud, then sad and quiet. They wanted to share their feelings through the music. That’s why I was needed. I was born to help music have more feeling.

A very kind and clever man brought me to life. His name was Bartolomeo Cristofori, and he lived in a beautiful city called Florence, in Italy, a very long time ago. Around the year 1700, he was working in his busy instrument shop, surrounded by the sounds of wood being carved and strings being tuned. He loved my cousin, the harpsichord, but he dreamed of making something new, something that could sing with real feelings. He would watch musicians play and think, “How can I make an instrument that can play both soft and loud?”. One day, he had a brilliant idea. Instead of having my strings plucked with a little pick, which always made the same sound, he designed tiny hammers covered in soft felt. It was a completely new way of making music. When you press one of my keys gently, a little hammer inside me taps a string softly, making a quiet, gentle sound. But if you press the key harder, the hammer taps the string with more power, making a big, loud, and exciting sound. It was the perfect solution. At first, he gave me a very long and important-sounding name: 'clavicembalo col piano e forte'. That’s a fancy way of saying 'keyboard with soft and loud' in Italian. It was quite a mouthful for people to say. Soon, everyone just started calling me Piano for short, and the name stuck. I am so proud to have been created by someone as thoughtful as him.

My invention changed the world of music forever. At the very beginning, I was very special and rare. Not many people had seen or heard me play. But as time went on, more and more of my piano family were built by talented craftspeople. Famous composers, the people who write music, fell in love with my voice. They started writing beautiful and exciting songs just for me. My music filled grand concert halls, making audiences feel happy, sad, or excited with every note. I also found my way into people’s homes. I loved becoming part of families, where children would gather around me to practice their lessons and parents would sing songs together in the evening. From the biggest stages in the world to cozy living rooms, I get to share the gift of music. Every time someone sits down and plays my keys, they are continuing my wonderful story of sound and feeling, and it brings me so much joy.