7 Epic Piano Facts (National Piano Month)

September is National Piano Month! Isn’t it awesome that we pianists get a whole month to celebrate our favorite instrument? If you haven’t already, this is also a good month to wow your friends with some epic piano facts. Here are a few.

#1. It’s not your imagination: bass keys are heavier and treble keys are lighter.

#2. You can trill faster on a grand piano than an upright piano.

Again, the magic is all in the action.

On a grand piano, the hammers return to rest using gravity. But on an upright piano, the hammers need the help of springs to return to rest. This gives acoustic grand pianos the fastest action.

According to Yamaha, horizontal grand piano action can perform around 14 repetitions per second. Meanwhile, vertical upright piano action can only perform around seven repetitions per second.

#3. Synthesizers hark back to the 1800s

The Teleharmonium, an early electronic musical instrument, got its start in the 1897 and it was enormous. (The Mark III version weighed 200 tonnes.) Played through the telephone system, it was housed in the basement of the Metropolitan Opera House. But Thaddeus Cahill’s electric achievement was eventually abandoned because it kept interfering with naval communications.

#4. The sostenuto and sustain pedals do different things!

> How Piano Pedals Work

“What do all the different piano pedals do?” This is a common question we get. It depends on the piano, but in general, grand pianos have three pedals. From left to right:

1. The una corda shifts the keyboard so that hammers hit only two out of the three strings they would normally hit. This slightly dampens the sound so that it’s easier to play softly.
2. The sostenuto pedal sustains a selection of notes while leaving unselected notes unsustained, so you can play clearly over a sustained note.
3. The sustain pedal is responsible for the “reverb” sound of piano pieces. Get comfortable using this pedal, as it can drastically improve your playing!

In acoustic uprights, the middle pedal is usually a muted practice pedal that allows you to practice in the middle of the night without annoying your neighbors. See? No excuses not to practice!

#5. Harpsichord strings are plucked. Clavichord strings are hammered.

Harpsichords and clavichords are both ancestors of the modern piano, but they sound very different.

While harpsichords have a sharp, stringy sound, clavichords are fairly quiet. But their biggest difference is the mechanism: harpsichords have little quills on their hammers that pluck the strings, while clavichords use hammers. However, not all clavichord models have keys that can be played at the same time.

> A Complete History of the Piano

#6. Mozart was a fan of the Stein action, and Beethoven was a Broadwood supporter.

#7. The most expensive piano we could find cost $3.4 million

According to Broughton Pianos, the most expensive piano ever sold was a Heintzman piano. It was bought by a private bidder at an auction for $3.22 million.

One of the most expensive and famous pianos is the Steinway & Sons Pictures at an Exhibition piano. Painted by Paul Wyse, it was designed after the Modest Mussorgsky piano suite of the same name.

As of this article’s publication, the most expensive piano we could find is the “As Time Goes By” piano, valued at $3.4 million. This piano inspired a famous line in the movie Casablanca, so it’s famous not because of how nice it sounds, but by its cultural impact.

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Charmaine Li is a Vancouver writer who has played piano for over 20 years. She holds an Associate diploma (ARCT) from the Royal Conservatory of Music and loves writing about the ways in which music—and music learning—affects the human experience. Charmaine manages The Note. Learn more about Charmaine here.