No. 44 - Pianoforte

This morning I took my daughter to piano lessons. She has only taken a few lessons so far but seems to enjoy them and was enthusiastic to go. The lessons were in the living of a woman's house. I sat on a couch and observed as my daughter was given instruction. I was thinking to myself that there's probably something I don't know about piano, especially given that I am not so musically inclined. A few seconds later the woman said, "Today we are going to learn two new words: forte and piano." My ears perked up.

She went on to explain that in Italian "forte" means loud and "piano" means soft. She then demonstrated that if you hit the piano key firmly, you get a loud sound. And if you hit the piano key gently, you get a soft sound.

I learned later that "piano" is the shorted form of "pianoforte," which is derived from the original Italian name for the instrument, clavicembalo col piano e forte. (Thank goodness they shortened the word. What a mouthful.) The word literally translated means "harpsichord with soft and loud." It refers to the ability of the piano, unlike the harpsichord, to produce tones at different volumes depending on how hard, or soft, the keys are struck. The piano was invented in 1709 when Bartolomeo Christifori first succeeded in fitting a row of pivoted hammers to the strings of a harpsichord.