The grand piano is a stringed instrument,
which allows the musician to play
multiple keys at a time.
In this two-part series, I want to show you how it works.
In Part 1, we'll go over the different pieces of a piano
and what happens when a key is pressed.
In Part 2, I'll show you what the foot pedals do
and how they work.
Let's get started with Part 1.
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The grand piano has been around
for over 300 years now.
You'll find one in just about
every concert hall around the globe.
Let's start today by looking at the lid.
It's propped open to give the full sound of the piano.
While no one is playing the piano,
it's usually best to close the lid to avoid collecting dust.
For the best sound during a performance,
the lid is usually open towards the audience;
this also lets the crowd see the keys that are being played.
I'm going to remove the music stand and the lid
so we can get a good look at what's inside.
The first thing you'll notice are strings, lots of strings.
They are stretched along a cast iron frame -
which has to be very strong to support the tension.
Towards the right, the strings are shorter and thinner
to produce higher sounding notes.
Towards the left, the strings are longer and thicker
to produce lower sounding notes.
The different lengths of strings,
is what gives the grand piano its unique shape.
The vibrating of these strings,
is what makes the sound you hear.
This won't happen until a key is pressed.
There are 88 keys on a grand piano;
52 white keys and 36 black keys.
Each key is actually a long lever,
which you normally can't see.
By pressing a key, there's a chain reaction that happens,
which causes a hammer to strike the strings.
Most of the keys strike three strings at a time;
for lower notes they strike two strings,
and the lowest notes only one string.
The lower notes don't have as many strings
because the strings are thicker,
so they produce more sound.
The motion of the hammer, involves a chain reaction.
Let's take a look at just one of the keys.
This mechanism is referred to as the piano action.
Let's break this down piece by piece.
Pressing the key causes the lever to go up and down;
just like a see-saw.
This next piece is called the Wippen.
It's pinned in place at the end, which allows it to rotate.
Of course, it's not actually floating...
it's attached to a long bar
that spans the length of the piano.
The Repetition Lever is pinned to the top of the Wippen.
The top of the lever hits this screw, causing it to rotate just slightly.
There's another bar holding this piece in place.
The Repetition Lever has a hole
allowing for another piece to go right through;
this piece is called the Jack -
it is pinned to the right of the Wippen
As it goes up,
the toe hits this cylinder, causing it to rotate;
once again another bar holds this in place.
Notice at the end of the motion,
the Jack sticks out a little up here.
And finally, we have the hammer,
The top of the Jack, is what gives the hammer the final push.
The harder a key is pressed,
the harder the hammer hits the strings,
which means a louder noise.
This also means that if you press the key soft enough,
you won't hear any sound.
Notice how a key can be pressed repeatedly and the hammer still works.
This piece is called the Damper.
You can see that it actually rests on the strings.
Pressing the key causes the Damper to rise,
which allows the string to vibrate,
but as soon as you release the key,
the Damper comes back down and stops the sound.
Okay, now imagine this hammer mechanism 88 times.
One thing you'll notice is that the highest notes
actually don't have dampers.
This is because the sound fades away so quickly
that the Dampers don't really make a difference.
Now you know how the keys work,
but there's a lot more to the grand piano.
Join me in Part 2,
and I'll show you what the foot pedals do and
how they work on the inside.
I'm Jared Owen, Thanks for watching.