How does piano create sound

The image below shows three different notes. The top represents the longest wavelength, which corresponds to the lowest note. The middle is a shorter wave, which will be a higher note, and the bottom is the highest note. Instruments with holes, such as the flute and recorder, operate differently.

When all of the holes are covered, the only opening to the outside is the end of the tube. Therefore the lowest note is made when none of the holes are uncovered top diagram. When a hole is uncovered, the instrument is opened to the atmosphere at that point, and this forces the end of the wave to move to that point. The closer the uncovered hole is to the embouchure hole on the flute where the musician blows air , the shorter the wave and the higher the note.

Add to collection. Related content This article is part of an article series : Sound — understanding standing waves Sound — visualising sound waves Sound — wave interference Sound — beats, the Doppler effect and sonic booms with the accompanying investigations: Measuring the speed of sound Investigating sound wave resonance Visit the sound topic for additional resources. Go to full glossary Add 0 items to collection. In the middle and upper registers of the piano, each hammer strikes 3 strings at a time.

The lower registers have 2 strings struck at once, eventually decreasing to a thick, singular string on the very last note. This entire process is known as the action of the piano. The damper is positioned behind this entire mechanism, resting on the strings. When a key is pressed, the damper moves away from the string, allowing the string to freely vibrate.

When the key is released, the damper returns to its original position, instantly stopping the sound. Beginning from the left, we have a soft pedal , sostenuto pedal , and a damper pedal.

In an upright, the soft pedal moves all the hammers closer to the strings, creating a muted sound that has a specific dynamic tone. The sostenuto pedal, or practice pedal , serves a similar function by triggering muffler felt to drop between the hammers and strings, reducing volume and allowing a pianist to practice quietly.

Finally, the damper, also commonly referred to as the sustain pedal , lifts all the dampers so that the vibration of each struck string continues to ring out. This pedal is frequently used to create a smoother sound, create atmospheric dynamics, and hold notes that cannot physically be held down all at once. You will notice that the pedal rod connects the pedals to the dampers. In a harpsichord, small quills pluck strings that vibrate to make the harpsichord's silvery sound. No matter how hard you press a key, the quill will pluck the string with close to the same force, producing the same sound.

In a piano the string is not plucked with a quill, but struck with a felt-covered hammer. When the performer presses a piano key softly, the hammer will strike the string slowly, making a soft sound. If a performer presses a key hard, the hammer strikes the string quickly, resulting in a loud sound. This is why Cristofori called the instrument a "pianoforte," literally a "softloud. Just think about that.

Before the pianoforte you couldn't play a crescendo gradually getting louder or a diminuendo gradually getting softer , or any other dynamic nuance on most keyboard instruments.

Needless to say Cristofori's expressive new invention caught on like wildfire. The key, wippen, and hammer assemblies of a grand piano. Three separate assemblies of different parts are involved in getting the force of the pianist's finger from the key to the string: the key assembly, the wippen assembly, and the hammer assembly. The key is basically a straight piece of wood that strikes the wippen assembly. The complex wippen assembly transfers the key's force to the hammer, "throwing" it towards the string.

A remarkable feature of the piano mechanism is that, because the hammer is thrown by the wippen assembly, it is actually completely out of the pianist's control when it hits the string. When the piano key is pressed, a "damper" or mute is lifted off the string, allowing the string to sound.

When the key is released, the damper is replaced, muting the string. This way a note only sounds so long as its key is pressed. Piano keys are usually made of spruce because it is a strong and light material. Today white keys have plastic tops and the black keys are made of ebony. In the past, keys were covered in a thin layer of ivory.

Though the porous ivory absorbed sweat and oils as you played, it yellowed, chipped, and flaked easily. Ivory was outlawed in the s and so ivory is no longer used on piano keys. As Vartoukian says, "it's better not to kill elephants for the keys. If you own a piano constructed before the s that has yellowed, slightly porous keys, they are probably covered with ivory. The ivory on piano keys is so thin and ages so quickly that it is almost worthless as a raw material.

While it is illegal to trade ivory internationally, it is still legal to buy and sell ivory products within Australia, which means you can legally sell your piano to your neighbour. Australia's laws around ivory trading have come under criticism because they may encourage poachers and ivory smugglers. Perhaps the best thing you can do with your ivory-laced piano is practise regularly to get the most use out of it.

While a crack in a violin body is a very serious matter, a crack in a piano's soundboard can be repaired easily, without losing any of the piano's tone quality, and without "major surgery". Often, cracks in a piano's soundboard are of no musical consequence, and should be left alone.

Maintaining proper humidity during the winter heating season helps to prevent cracks from occurring. The function of a damper is to stop the vibration of a string when the sound has continued long enough. As long as the player's finger depresses the key, the damper belonging to that key's strings remains lifted, and the strings are free to vibrate. When the key is released, the damper falls back against the strings, pressing soft felt against them to absorb the vibration. The highest strings on a piano usually do not need dampers, because the energy of their vibration is released so quickly, they stop sounding in a short time.

The pedal on the right is for the purpose of lifting all the dampers away from the strings at once, allowing the player to sustain a series of notes whose sound continues even after each key has been released.

Furthermore, because strings can vibrate in sympathy with other strings whose vibrations are mathematically related to their own, lifting all the dampers allows strings to vibrate which have not been struck, but which are in harmonic relationship with those which have been. This gives a fuller, richer sound. One does not want to use the damper pedal indiscriminately, or the result is something like using too much water in water color paints; the colors run into each other and become blurred and muddy.

There are sounds which do not blend well and should not be sustained together. The pedal on the left is for producing a softer tone. On a grand piano, it shifts all the keys and their hammers to the right, just far enough so two things happen; the hammers strike fewer strings two of a set of three, one of a set of two.