The Sound of Wonder

By

Melisa Kreismanis

The room was filled with peaceful music fluttering all around. I was playing the piano. I have an upright piano, with 88 all keys perfectly glazed on. The color of the piano is jet black. Whenever I play the piano I always wonder… basically what is the history of the piano?

Who are some of the world’s famous pianists, and are they different from me? Not only do I wonder how different the pianists are, I wonder how different the pianos are too. Who invented invented them? I craved to know answers to these questions, so I started at the beginning, with the precursor of the piano. The Psaltery is the one that started it all. This instrument is a flat hollow board with stings stretched delicately between 24 pegs. Its shaped like a rectangle with a flat hump on the side. When you pluck the instrument with a finger or operetta (a small chip), it sounds sharp and long like something scraping against metal. The Psaltery doesn’t have keys, so it’s a start but definitely not a finish.

The clavichord’s keys are nice and easy to play. When a key is pressed the clavichord sounds quiet and gentle, like water currents flowing. It’s shaped like a rectangular box with an exquisite painting on it. When a key is struck a blade called the tangent strikes a string. In the 15^th century it was the first type of keyboard instrument that people learned how to play. Clavichords were nice but didn’t sound as good as other pianos, and their sound was too soft. So they are not played any more.

It’s louder, its bigger, its better, it’s the harpsichord. One by one, two by two… all at once, each key sounds like it has its own mind. The harpsichord has two sets of keys which is kind of cool, but harder to play. The harpsichord usually sounds graceful, cheerful, faster, and happy. Each sound sounds like a tinkling in your mind. To make a sound, the strings are carelessly plucked by leather quill points. The more keys struck the louder the sound.

The less keys struck the quieter the sound. The harpsichord is wonderful, and is still played today. The quill plucking sound was limited and didn’t sound as good as pianos that had hammers. So it was a last to the quill plucking.

It’s all so DIFFERENT! I still can’t believe something so simple could go through this whole gigantic, complicated process. Like the precursors of the piano, it starts out like a little seed, and then gets better, better, better, and better until it’s a flower, or in this case a complete piano.

The precursors are definitely different than the pianos today because of the quill plucking, how they look, and other characteristics, but they are still part of the piano family. I’m so glad that someone invented better pianos that we have today. Wait, who did invent the pianos that we have today?

Cristofori took a big step with pianos. He was the man who made the first true piano, called the pianoforte. Three hundred years ago, before all of the pianos had quills, Cristofori’s had hammers, (it was called the hammer action). When pianos had quills, the sound was limited and was very quiet.

Cristofori’s piano, that had hammers, helped a lot because the sound was much richer.

Cristofori’s piano, that had hammers, helped a lot because the sound was much richer. The harder you hit a key the louder it would be and the softer you hit a key the quieter it would be. Pianos that had quills couldn’t do that.

Of course as the years go on, many people improved the hammer action. For example, Henry E. Steinway improved the hammer action in 1825. Thanks to Cristofori and other inventers, we have what we call today the piano.

The pianists must have adored Cristofori. He wasn’t the one who invented the first piano, the psaltery, but he was the one to invent the first real modern piano, the pianoforte. My piano isn’t probably much different from the pianoforte. (My piano is very old!)

Since I play the piano I just wanted to see how different other pianists are from me, for example, was piano their only passion?

His hands are trickling like raindrops on the piano keys. “Franz you are the best pianist in all of Hungaria!” exclaimed Franz List’s apprentice. “Yes my apprentice, but I‘ve been studying and playing the piano all my life. I don’t just want to play music, I want to be a composer and make music of my own.” said Franz with a big sigh. “Well you’re still young, how about you just stick to teaching new pianists to their success for a little while more. Now come, you have a concert to be going to.” So they both strolled off into the gloomy streets of Hungaria.

I never knew that piano wasn’t List’s only passion. You’d think that one of the most famous pianists would only like piano, but Franz wanted to be a composer too. I would feel the same way too.

About feelings, pianist’s lives back then must have been boring. Well, were they?

Inside Johannes Brahms he was happy, encouraging, and bright, but outside he was lonely, dark, and silent. In the cafés he played music on the piano that sounds just perfect, like one puzzle piece that makes a puzzle complete.

Johannes Brahms was one of the best pianists in the 19^th century. He was a shy and sensitive man, yet he was one of the most esteemed pianists too. Johannes had shown his true colors through his work and his emotions.

He was definitely NOT boring! Johannes Brahms had various emotions. He would be down, and happy at the same time. I don’t think that I ever felt like that.

All different kinds of forms of music changed my feelings. What are some of the forms of music that pianists played?

All silent, until one drop of music, then another then another, until it formed a masterpiece. That was another one of Frederic Chopin’s romantic pieces. Many people in Poland admired Frederic for his elegant music. He was a fantastic composer and was great with piano works. When Frederic wrote a piece of music, it was always well written, like his piece of music called the “Walzer”. Frederic was great with music and was a very romantic pianist.

Ooh romantic, now that is one form of music that I would like to hear. Although when I play piano I like to play pop music, and I bet it’s different from the pop music that they had.

It’s so interesting to see how different some of the pianists are from the pianists that we have today. Today when someone plays the piano, it’s recorded, edited, and changed so it sounds almost like a whole different song. Now once the song is recorded it usually goes on “I Tunes” and then people can download the song from their own home. Back then people just played the songs at a café or a concert, and the person just had to trust her/himself that they would do well. Also, to hear the music you had to go to a café or concert, you couldn’t just hear the music from your home. In ways it’s different, and in ways it’s the same.

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Things have really changed over the years. They are also very interesting changes, like the pianists. They were very interesting people with their emotions, passions, and forms of music. The precursors where also interesting with so many changes it had. To the final change of the precursors was all thanks to Cristfori. He was the one who really made a change. Compared to other instruments, the piano is superior. It’s… the sound of wonder.