| Modern pianos come in two basic configurations and several sizes: the
grand piano and the upright piano.
Grand pianos have the frame and strings placed horizontally, with the
strings extending away from the keyboard. This makes the grand piano a
large instrument, for which the ideal setting is a spacious room with high
ceilings for proper resonance. There are several sizes of grand piano.
Manufacturers and models vary, but a rough generalisation distinguishes
the "concert grand", (between about 2.2 m to 3 m long) from the "boudoir
grand" (about 1.7 m to 2.2 m) and the smaller "baby grand" (which may be
shorter than it is wide). All else being equal, longer pianos have better
sound and lower inharmonicity of the strings. This is partly because the
strings will be tuned closer to equal temperament in relation to the standard
pitch with less stretching (See: Piano tuning). Full-size grands are usually
used for public concerts, whereas baby grands are often chosen for domestic
use where space and cost are considerations.
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Upright pianos, also called vertical pianos, are more compact because
the frame and strings are placed vertically, extending in both directions
from the keyboard and hammers. It is considered harder to produce a sensitive
piano action when the hammers move horizontally, rather than upward against
gravity as in a grand piano; however, the very best upright pianos now
approach the level of grand pianos of the same size in tone quality and |
responsiveness. However, one feature of the grand piano action always makes
it superior to the vertical piano. All grand pianos have a special repetition
lever in the playing action that is absent in all verticals. This repetition
lever, a separate one for every key, catches the hammer close to the strings
as long as the key remains depressed. In this position, with the hammer
resting on the lever, a pianist can play repeated notes, staccato, and
trills with much more speed and control than they could on a vertical piano.
The action design of a vertical prevents it from having a repetition lever.
Because of this, piano manufacturers claim that a skilled piano player
can play as many as 14 trill notes per second on grands but only seven
on uprights. For recent advances, see Innovations in the piano.
In 1863, Henri Fourneaux invented the player piano, a kind of piano
which "plays itself" from a piano roll without the need for a pianist.
Also in the 19th century, toy pianos began to be manufactured.
A relatively recent development is the prepared piano, which is simply
a standard grand piano which has had objects placed inside it before a
performance in order to alter its sound, or which has had its mechanism
changed in some way.
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Since the 1980s, digital pianos have been available, which use digital
sampling technology to reproduce the sound of each piano note. The best
digital pianos are sophisticated, with features including working pedals,
weighted keys, multiple voices, and MIDI interfaces. However, with current
technology, it remains difficult to duplicate a crucial aspect of acoustic
pianos, namely that when the damper pedal (see below) is depressed, the
strings not struck vibrate sympathetically when other strings are struck
as well as the unique instrument-specific mathematical non-linearity of
partials on any given unison. Since this sympathetic vibration is considered
central to a beautiful piano tone, in many experts' estimation digital
pianos still do not compete with the best acoustic pianos in tone quality.
Progress is being made in this area by including physical models of sympathetic
vibration in the synthesis software |
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