Michael Bailey

 

In just the past 15 years, the Internet has drastically changed the way people today are exposed to the piano. The real name of the piano is the “pianoforte.” The name “pianoforte” is a combination of two musical terms, “piano” and “forte”, meaning soft and loud, respectively. (1)

In the first days of the pianoforte, lots of people flocked to listen to it and to get their hands on one. Before the pianoforte, people had the harpsichord, but the piano was so much different because you could play it fast or soft.

In time, the pianoforte has become very commonplace. It has been around for over 200 years, and as the general public's taste in music has changed, the most popular instruments have changed as well.

The Internet, however, has become a place for people to find out about the piano and for people who play the piano to find others with common interests.

The website Yahoo and other sites have clubs or groups where people with similar interests can join, talk about these interests and even meet. Yahoo has a number of groups for people who play the pianoforte.

In times before the Internet, if people wanted to buy new sheet music to play on the pianoforte they would either have to write to a company for a catalog or drive to a store that sells sheet music. However, driving to a store wasn't a very good option because the store wasn't always guaranteed to have the sheet music that the customer wanted. Today, Internet sites exist that have hundreds of thousands of sheet music titles that can be bought from home or downloaded. Thus, the spread of pianoforte awareness has been made easier through the introduction of the Internet.

NOTES:
(1) Encarta.com. Piano (musical instrument)
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/SRPage.aspx?search=piano

THREE RELATED WEBSITES:

Piano Chat Adult Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/piano_chat/
A good club on Yahoo! to discuss piano techniques.

Piano (musical instrument)
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/SRPage.aspx?search=piano
Information all about the piano from an Internet encyclopedia.

Piano History
http://www.baldwinpiano.com/learn/phistory.html
More information on the humble beginnings of the pianoforte.

Print Sources:

Non-print sources:

(1) Hoover, Cynthia A. Piano 300: Celebrating Three Centuries of People and Pianos. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution and NAMM-International Music Products Association, 2001. Call number: ML650 .H668 2001 (2) Rimbault, Edward F. The pianoforte, its origin, process, and construction; with some account of instruments of the same class which preceded it; viz. the clavichord, the virginal, the spinet, the harpsichord, etc.; to which is added a selection of interesting specimens of music composed for keyed-stringed instruments. London, R. Cocks and Co., 1860. Call number: 786.1 R575p

(1) Badura-Skoda, Eva. The History of the Pianoforte: Famous or Noteworthy Instruments Played by Great Artists : A Documentation in Sound. Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1999. Videocassette. Call number: VC-401

More webpages to look up for history and information:

Cole, Michael. “The Pianoforte in the Classical Era.” Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society. Vol. 26. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998. 218-221. Available from The Music Index Online. http://www.hppmusicindex.com

Parakilas, James. “Piano Roles. Three Hundred Years of Life with the Piano.” Music in Art. Vol. 24. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. 137. Available from The Music Index Online. http://www.hppmusicindex.com

Cole, Michael. “The Twelve Apostles? An Inquiry into the Origins of the English Pianoforte.” Early Keyboard Journal. Vol. 18. 2000. 9-52. Available from The Music Index Online. http://www.hppmusicindex.com

Harris, John. “A History of Music for Harpsichord or Piano and Orchestra.” Piano & Keyboard. Vol. n192. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1997. 56. Available from The Music Index Online. http://www.hppmusicindex.com

De Val, Dorothy. “A History of Pianoforte Pedalling.” Music & Letters. Vol. 76. Oxford University Press, 1995. 437. Available from Infotrac.

Koerner, Brendan. “How the Piano Got to the Top.” U.S. News & World Report. Vol. 128. U.S. News and World Report, Inc, 2000. 52. Available from Infotrac.