Why do pianos have 88 keys?

16 May 2018, 15:15

Why do pianos have 88 keys? Picture: Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

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A standard piano has 88 keys: 52 white and 36 black. But who decided this number would be the norm, and why?

Before the piano was invented, composers wrote a lot of music for the harpsichord, which has just 60 keys. This meant that everything they wrote was limited to the harpsichord’s five-octave range.

Then, the first piano was invented.

Around the year 1700, Bartolomeo Cristofori, a musical instrument technician from Padua, Italy, decided it was time to update the harpsichord – and he came up with a new keyboard instrument with a hammer mechanism.

Cristofori was hired by the Florentine court of Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici in 1688 to look after their harpsichords and, eventually, other instruments.

A 1700 inventory of Medici instruments mentions an ‘arpicimbalo’ (lit. an instrument resembling a harpsichord) invented by Cristofori. The instrument had a brand-new hammer and damper mechanism, two keyboards and a range of four octaves (49 keys).

Poet and journalist Scipione Maffei described it in 1711 as a ‘gravicembalo col piano, e forte’ (harpsichord with quiet and loud). It was here that the ‘pianoforte’ found its name.

Piano, made by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731). Picture: Getty

Composers got more ambitious

After Cristofori’s invention, composers started writing more and more music for the piano. But the instrument’s four-octave range was limiting.

So, piano manufacturers designed new pianos with more keys, so that composers like Haydn and Mozart could write more interesting material with a wider range.

The 14 best pieces EVER written for piano

By the time Romantic composers like Chopin and Liszt were writing music in the mid-1800s, pianos had up to seven octaves. This meant they could compose pieces with a crazy range, like this mad piece by Liszt:

Steinway created the 88-key piano

In the late 1880s, piano manufacturer Steinway created the 88-key piano. Other manufacturers followed suit, and Steinway’s model has been the standard ever since.

An 88-key piano has seven octaves plus three lower notes (B, B flat and A) below the bottom C.

It has 52 white keys and 36 black keys (sharps and flats), with each octave made up of seven white keys and five black keys.

Steinway & Sons piano. Picture: Getty

Why did piano manufacturers stop at 88 keys?

Today’s composers usually write piano music that fits within the range of an 88-key model. Most piano makers also accept this as the limit, because anything outside is considered too high or low for the human ear.

But there are a few exceptions. For example, there’s a 102-key Stuart and Sons piano, which costs around £220,000.

Plus, Bösendorfer sells 92-key pianos, whose four extra keys are coloured black, so the pianist can distinguish them from the standard 88. The keys are rarely used, but the extra bass strings add harmonic resonance that contributes to the rich, overall sound of the instrument.

Here’s what they look like on the rather grand Bösendorfer semi-concert grand piano:

92-key Bösendorfer piano. Picture: YouTube

How do you actually play the incredible opening solo ...

... in ‘Rhapsody in Blue’?

How do you play the opening solo in 'Rhapsody in Blue'?

Credit: YouTube/Earspasm Music

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A trill, a scale and one filthy glissando – which according to this clarinet genius, is technically called a ‘smear’. Here’s how it’s done.

First, here’s what the opening solo looks like:

Rhapsody in Blue clarinet glissando. Picture: Acoustics

Even if you don’t read music, you can see that’s a heck of a lot of notes.

So, you need to start with a lot of breath. Playing a long glissando like Gershwin’s makes your instrument work harder and less efficiently, says clarinettist Michael Lowerstern (Earspasm on YouTube).

Second, Michael says, start to slowly pull your finger on and off the opening note to create a trill.

Once you’ve made it to the top of the trill, slowly pull your fingers off all three top keys together to create the aforementioned ‘smear’.

And bam, you’ve nailed the Rhapsody in Blue!

Vienna Clarinet Connection plays 'Rhapsody in Blue'

Why do orchestras tune to an 'A'?

By Classic FM London

14 May 2018, 09:51

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

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At an orchestral concert, you’ll hear an A from the oboe before you hear anything else because it’s the note that the rest of the musicians tune to. But where did this tradition come from and why is it still around?

Why do orchestras tune to an ‘A’?

Orchestras always tune to concert pitch (usually A=440 Hertz, 440 vibrations per second).

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Conveniently, every string instrument has an A string. So it makes sense for string orchestras to tune to the open A string of the first violinist. And as other families of instruments have joined the orchestra over the years, they followed suit. 

Even if an orchestra tunes to the ‘A’ of a keyboard instrument, the oboe (or first violin) will still pick up the note and play it for the rest of the orchestra, to make sure everyone can hear it.

Contrastingly, most band instruments are pitched in B flat – so if you’ve ever played in a concert band, you will have noticed that you always tune to a B flat rather than an ‘A’.

When did orchestras start tuning to the oboe?

Listen to the sound of these lovely oboes:

Lady Gaga medley for 5 oboes and English horn

Arranged by Ryan Walsh. Performed by The Mannes Oboe Studio: Cat Cantrell, Cory Snoddy, Phil Rashkin, Scott Wollett, Devin Hinzo and Ron Cohen Mann. Songs include: "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "Telephone", "Judas" and "Applause".

Despite their distinctive sound, the oboe hasn’t always been in the orchestral spotlight.

When the first orchestras emerged in the late 17th century, they were mainly formed of string players. While the focus was on string instruments, oboists were sometimes used to strengthen the sound of the first and second violin section.

But then, composers started to realise that the oboe’s bright, singing tone could be put to better use. They began writing separate parts for the instrument, and even creating concertos for the instrument (for example, Albinoni’s Oboe Concerto in D minor).

So why do today’s orchestras tune to the oboe?

The penetrating sound of the oboe stands out from the orchestra, so it’s easy for all the musicians to hear. 

Its pitch is also steadier than strings, so it’s a more reliable tuning source. This was especially true when all violin strings were made from gut (now they’re more often made from steel).

Longevity also has a lot to do with it: over time flutes, bassoons, French horns and clarinets drifted in and out of the orchestra; but oboes were nearly always written into orchestral scores. So they became the standard instrument for tuning.

Yamaha has another theory: “The only way of altering the pitch of an oboe is to adjust the breadth or length of the reeds; it is nearly impossible to make any sudden changes on the day of a performance. It is difficult to adjust the pitch of an oboe,” they argue. “Therefore the other instruments in a performance must be made to match, and that is why the oboe is the standard for tuning.”

Don’t oboes go flat too?

Like any other instrument, oboes can be tuned sharp or flat. But most oboists use an electronic tuner to make sure their ‘A’ is on point. 

In theory, the whole orchestra could use the electronic tuner to tune. It probably produces a more consistently accurate note than an oboe, as well.

But we think it would be a shame to lose this tradition. It’s surprisingly hard to imagine a concert without that reassuring initial sound of an oboe rising above the chitter-chatter, just as you’re settling into your seat and setting your phone to silent, before the full magnificent orchestra chimes in at pitch…

Hungarian Rapsody No. 2 - Liszt by Victor Borge and Leonid Hambro

Ludwig van Beethoven: 20 facts about this great composer

He reinvented the symphony, reshaped string quartets, and redefined piano sonatas - but there's much more to learn about Ludwig van Beethoven, the man who changed music forever.

1. 

   1. Beethoven’s birth

   Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in December 1770… but no one is sure of the exact date! He was baptised on 17 December, so he was probably born the day before. His birthplace (pictured) is now the Beethoven-Haus museum.
2. 

   2. Beethoven's father creates a child prodigy

   Never mind the exact date, the year of Beethoven’s birth is sometimes questioned, and for years the composer thought he was born in 1772, two years too late. This may have been a deliberate deception on the part of his father (pictured) to make the musical prodigy seem younger – and therefore, more advanced for his age – than he actually was.
3. 

   3. Violin music

   As a young boy, Beethoven played the violin, often enjoying improvisation rather than reading the notes from a score. His father once asked: “What silly trash are you scratching together now? You know I can’t bear that – scratch by note, otherwise your scratching won’t amount to much.” How wrong he was…
4. 

   4. Beethoven's first composition?

   There’s some speculation about when the young composer started setting his ideas on paper, but the only piece to date from as early as 1782 is a set of nine variations for piano. Beethoven set himself apart as a musical maverick even at the age of 12 – the music is in C minor, which is unusual for music of the time, and it’s fiendishly difficult to play!
5. 

   5. Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart

   After the death of Mozart in 1791, musicians in his hometown of Vienna were in need of a new genius. The Viennese Count Waldstein (pictured) told the young Beethoven if he worked hard enough he would receive ‘Mozart’s spirit through Haydn’s hands’. No pressure then.
7. 

   6. Beethoven in Vienna

   Finding a wig maker? Noting the address of a dance teacher? Oh, and finding a piano, of course. Beethoven kept a diary of his day-to-day activities when he moved to Vienna in 1792, giving us insights into his personality.
8. 

   7. Beethoven and Bach

   By 1793, aged just 22, Beethoven often played the piano in the salons of the Viennese nobility. He often performed the preludes and fugues from Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier and quickly established himself as a piano virtuoso.
9. 

   8. Beethoven goes deaf

   Composing anything at all is a challenge, even for a musical genius. So when you consider Beethoven started to go deaf around 1796, aged just 25, it’s a wonder he managed to write any music at all. He communicated using conversation books, asking his friends to write down what they wanted to say so he could respond.
10. 

    9. Symphony No. 1 – a musical joke?

    Beethoven was 30 when his first symphony was first performed in the Burgtheater in Vienna (pictured), and it went where no symphony had ever gone before. Symphonies were seen to be pretty light-hearted works, but Beethoven took this one step further with the introduction, which sounds so musically off-beam it’s often considered to be a joke!
11. 

    10. Deafness and despair: The Heiligenstadt Testament

    Despite his increasing deafness, by 1802 Beethoven was almost at breaking point. On a retreat to Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, he wrote: “I would have ended my life – it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.” It’s known as the ‘Heiligenstadt Testament’, and was published in 1828.