My name is Dotan Negrin and this is my space. Read stories from my travels across the World. Listen to my music. Look at photos of my beautiful dog, Brando. Lets have a discussion about the piano and music! Message me!
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Erik Satie- La belle excentrique, Grand Ritournelle
I truly believe that Jazz music emerged from the collision of Classical music and African American sounds from the late 1800’s. Music almost always comes out of the music that preceded it.
Listen to this piece by Erik Satie and then listen to the Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin. Hear the resemblance? Both pieces use a similar interval with the octaves in the left hand.
Do you know of any other examples like this?
Erik Satie- La belle excentrique, Grand Ritournelle
I truly believe that Jazz music emerged from the collision of Classical music and African American sounds from the late 1800’s. Music almost always comes out of the music that preceded it.
Listen to this piece by Erik Satie and then listen to the Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin. Hear the resemblance? Both pieces use a similar interval with the octaves in the left hand.
Do you know of any other examples like this?
History of the Piano (Part 4)
After the Viennese school had created their own version of the 5-octave piano in the mid 1700’s, the construction of the piano began to change rapidly with the emergence of the Industrial Revolution in the 1800’s. The most major change was increasing the tonal range from 5 to 7 1/4 octaves by 1820.
During this period the company that dominated in the making of pianos was a British company named Broadwood. The difference of a Broadwood piano versus a Viennese school piano was that the Broadwoods had a much robust tone while the Viennese pianos were more sensitive. Both were made using different types of actions.
At this point all the attention was on Paris where new innovations were being created by companies like Pleyel and Erard. These were the same pianos played by Chopin and Liszt. In Paris is where the double escapement action was invented that allowed a single note to be repeated even if it hasnt returned to its original resting position. When it was first invented it became a standard amongst all pianos. Indeed, a necessary innovation.
Other innovations that occured in the mid 1800’s were:
1. The use of felt on hammer which improved the quality of the sound
2. The addition of the middle pedal called, the Sostenuto pedal which sustained only notes that were depressed simultaneously with the pedal.
3. A stronger iron frame that sits on top of the soundboard. This frame allowed for thicker and more strings. It helped to increase the amount of tension on the soundboard.
4. The use of 3 strings instead of 2 on all the notes above the bass.
5. Thomas Steinway enhanced the sound quality of the notes by extending the piano strings even further. This small extension was not part of the actual note but was a “non-speaking part” that vibrated to each notes respective overtone. Look up: Sympathetic vibrations.
Ever Wonder Why the Piano Keys are Arranged that Way?
Many people dont know that the piano key layout was already in existence 2000 years before there was ever such a thing as a piano.
The first piano keyboard was invented over 2300 years ago in Greece and only had 7 basic notes based on the first seven letters of the latin alphabet. A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The instrument was the Hydraulis. To read more about the Hydraulis, click here.
And just like today’s modern piano keyboard, these seven notes repeated themselves within a specific pattern throughout the length of the piano note chart. However, it was missing the accidental keys (black keys). Without the black keys, you can imagine how limited early musicians were in their ability to create complex sounding music compositions.
By the year 757 AD, the Hydraulis had finally found its way into the western world where the Catholic Church adopted it. Here is where it underwent many transformations. However, as late as the year 1200 AD the medieval church organ was still only using the same seven notes it originally inherited from its ancestor.
As the medieval church organist continued to push beyond the boundaries of early music composition and experiment with different theories in music, the original seven piano key notes were eventually joined with five additional (and very useful) “half-tones”.
The incorporation of these five additional piano key notes, gave the world of music a wide variety of scales and modes, fourteen new key signatures, and an almost infinite number of chord possibilities.
But it was the 18th century that ushered in the golden age of the pipe organ with a culmination of organ works composed by the most celebrated organist the world had ever know: Johann Sebastian Bach.
(Source: get-piano-lessons.com)
Check out this awesome rendition of Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin in a Latin style. You can really see where the influence of Latin music comes from. The original composition can easily be Latin if you just change the rhythm.
Check out this awesome rendition of Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin in a Latin style. You can really see where the influence of Latin music comes from. The original composition can easily be Latin if you just change the rhythm.
The Ultimate Jazz Archive (in 168 CD’s)
This is an INSANE archive of 168 CD’s on the History and Evolution of Jazz from 1899-1955.
If you really want to hear how Jazz changed over 50 years, you have to buy this. This would take you years to complete!
History of the Piano (Part 3)
The piano was believed to be built to create a meeting point between the Clavichord who was too soft for large performances, and the Harpsichord who has little control over dynamics.
After Bartolomeo Cristofori had invented the piano, it wasnt until 1711 where Scipion Maffei, wrote an article about it with a diagram that it became popular. Once news of the first piano became widespread, everyone wanted to build one for themselves. In the late 18th century, piano making flourished in Vienna. There they built a piano that was made with 2 strings per note and leather covered hammers. The keys were even opposite colors where the natural keys were black and the accidentals were white. The sound of these pianos are said to be much softer and not as loud as modern day pianos.
This is the piano that Mozart used to compose his concerto’s and sonatas. I actually like this look better. I guess because its different.
Stay Tuned for Part 4……
(Source: Wikipedia)
History of the Piano (Part 2)
The Hydraulis (The Great Great Great Great grandfather of the piano)
Most people don’t realize that the history of the piano predates the birth of Jesus with the creation of the first keyboard instrument, the Hydraulis. The Hydraulis was an instrument made of pipes like an Organ only it uses water as a power source to push the air through. It was invented around 250 BC by Ctesibius of Alexandria.
Unlike the modern day keyboard, the Hydraulis was only made up of 7 basic notes. Which gives us the modern day C Major scale. They didn’t discover the accidental keys until the Middle Ages.
The Hydraulis used a water wheel that would turn using a continuous source of water. The water and air pressure would build up in the wind chamber and when a key was pressed they would separate and the pressured air would flow through the pipes. To read more click here.
Click here for a video of the Hydraulis in action.
(Source: wikipedia.com)
History of the Piano (Part 1)
In the picture above you can see one of Bartolomeo Cristofori’s first pianos still preserved which he built in 1722 in Florence, Italy. This is around the time when the first “Pianoforte” was born. Supposedly Cristofori built the first prototype in 1698. This piano only has 4 octaves (a little more than half of a modern piano).
“A piano’s sound comes from striking a string held under tension with some form of hammer. The string and soundboard assembly had been in existence for many years prior to Cristofori’s work, but Cristofori managed to develop an effective mechanism that took the downward pressure on a key and used it to ‘project’ a small hammer towards the strings. The ‘action’ of a piano is that mechanism.”
Click here to read more.
