How Does A Grand Piano Work?

If you’re a grand piano lover, you’ve probably wondered exactly how they work. What’s going on under the hood to make those beautiful sounds? If you’re curious about what makes a grand piano so…well, grand, read on to get a better understanding into the inner workings of your piano.

Many people don’t realize that a grand piano is a string instrument…just a really, really big one. When you press a key on the piano, a hammer hits the associated string or strings and makes them vibrate at a certain frequency. The bass notes (the lower keys on the left) are made by two strings vibrating together, and the higher notes (the treble notes, on the right hand side) are made by sets of three strings.

Generally, the highest notes have the shortest, thinnest strings while the lowest notes have the longest, thickest strings. Some pianos only have one thick string for the lowest notes. Whatever their length and thickness, grand piano strings are made of very strong steel. To make the strings thicker, copper wire is wrapped around the steel.

These strings are all stretched over a bridge. This bridge then sends the sound to the soundboard, which sits directly under the strings. The soundboard amplifies the vibrations of the strings, and is responsible for the beautiful notes that drift out from your piano.

Grand pianos have a hammer that corresponds to each key, which hits the string from beneath and then goes back almost immediately so the string vibrates without any impediment. The hammers are wooden, and covered with thick felt. From time to time, this felt needs to be loosened because it becomes too tightly compacted after a long period of use, and will affect the way the piano sounds.

Each key also has a dampener. the dampener is made of felt, and its purpose is to stop the vibration of the string and halt the sound. When you press a key on your grand piano, its dampener rises away from the string. When you take your finger away, the dampener settles down on the string and stops it from vibrating.

Your grand piano has foot pedals, and they do different things. The left foot pedal is for creating a quieter sound. When you press the left pedal, all of the hammers move slightly to the right. This causes them to hit the strings with the softer side of their felt, and to come into contact with fewer of the strings in a set.

The right foot pedal, on the other hand, is used to create a continuous sound. When you press the right pedal, all of the dampeners are lifted away from all of the strings, and all of the strings that are being vibrated are able to do so at the same time. The middle pedal isn’t used much, as it only lifts the dampeners for the bass keys.

Now that you know a little more about how your grand piano works, you can take your head out from under the hood…and get playing!