Saturday, August 13, 2011

pianoFORTE

Going through a burn-out phase of a different sort.  All I feel like doing lately is playing the piano.  I still love my clarinet and saxophone, but for some reason, every time I get a free moment while in my lesson studio, I'll get out the piano books and plonk away.  In college, in addition to the hours and hours spent practicing my instruments like I was supposed to, I would spend some additional time playing whatever I could on the piano.  Maybe I'm reverting.  Anyway, I'm not too concerned at this point, music is music, but I know that I will need to start practicing my clarinet seriously again.  Just kind of enjoying the "down-time." 

Have I told you how a piano works?  Well, the keys on the keyboard are attached to a sort of lever that is attached to a hammer.  When the key is pressed down, the hammer is made to go up and hit the string.  Because pianos were developed during a time when keyboard instruments could not easily make dynamic (loud and soft) distinction, it was termed the "pianoforte."  Hitting the key hard will get a loud sound, because the string is hit with the hammer with more force.  Hitting the key gently produces a soft sound, for the opposite reason.

No comments:

Post a Comment