Fun Piano Facts

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What member of the animal kingdom responds to piano music just like humans? What is the most expensive piano made of? Find out the answers to these questions and more!

  • The first piano was invented in 1709 by an Italian harpsichord maker Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori.
  • The piano was first called gravicembalo col piano e forte, which roughly translates to “soft and loud keyboard instrument.”
  • According to many studies, learning piano may enhance a child's language building skills and overall academic achievement.
  • Piano is technically a stringed instrument, played percussively. However, unlike, say, a violin, the piano is played percussively with little hammers hitting its strings to produce sound.
  • Priced at 1.36 million dollars, the galaxy piano is among the world’s most expensive pianos boasting a body made completely of 24-carat gold.
  • Pianos are more likely to stay in in tune when they are not in overly damp or overly dry environments.
  • At 19 ft long, the Alexander Piano is one of the world's largest pianos. It was built by New Zealand piano-maker Adrian Mann, who was only 15 years old when he began building it.
  • Elephants respond to music just like human do. Acclaimed pianist and teacher Paul Barton discovered this after having spent 20 years working with Elephants World to rehabilitate elephants.
  • You can visit the earliest surviving piano at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
  • Back in 2015, Steinway unveiled the “Fibonacci,” a piano whose spiral patterns were inspired by the spirals generated from the mathematical Fibonacci sequence, nature’s “golden ratio.”

Connect with the Piano at Kaufman Music Center!

See piano legends André Watts & Ursula Oppens perform in Merkin Hall on the series Only at Merkin with Terrance McKnight.

Take piano lessons at Lucy Moses School! We have the perfect teachers for all skill levels and ages - from 5 to 95+. Beginners are welcome!


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