Piano Evolution
Pianos have not always looked or sounded the same. They have evolved to be the way they are today and bring the sound they do.
Pianos have evolved from square to upright to grand to digital. Pianos have always attracted many interested listeners, though they have not always sounded the same.
The first song I'm analyzing is Fur Elise, composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and Giscard Rasquin on April 27, 1810 in Vienna. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mVW8tgGY_w
Summary: Pianos have evolved quite a bit since the composure of Fur Elise back in 1810. This piece of work was composed using a square piano, which was initially designed in France in 1777. The piano's name doesn't make a ton of sense, since it was actually rectangular and not square at all. These types of pianos were commonly used to play music in salons. An interesting fact about this song in particular is that even though it was composed in 1810, it was not published until the year 1867, after the composer's death.
The second song I'm analyzing is A Thousand Years, composed by Christina Perri and David Hodges. It was released in the United States on October 18, 2011. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtOvBOTyX00
Summary: A Thousand Years was written by a modern singer and songwriter who decided to create the piece of work to be produced in a movie series. The piano used in this song is a much more modern, digital piano, having moved far away from square pianos. In fact, you can even play this song on a keyboard pretty easily! This is a song that most everyone can recognize by the first few soft piano notes.
2 musical elements that have transformed due to evolution:
1) The tone and performance of a square piano is extremely limited. This is due to the fact that square pianos have a very narrow sound board. The job of the sound board is to transform the vibrations into audible waves of sound, and square pianos aren't able to do this very well because they are so narrow. With the evolution to today's modern piano, this has been corrected and most all pianos today have a much wider sound board, meaning they can produce more audible sounds!
2) The level of timbre is much more prevalent in today's piano music than it is in the older works. Timbre is the quality of the musical notes, which is obviously a bit clearer today since modern pianos have evolved to play more distinct notes. Today's pianos can withstand higher levels of tension on the strings, which allows sounds to be more audible. Piano music back in the day of square pianos really only included the piano itself. However, piano music today often has different instruments and usually a singer accompanying the piano. Timbre allows listeners to distinguish between the piano sounds and the other instruments.
Personal Opinions:
I am not a fan of Fur Elise or any of the piano work from the old days. To me, it sounds like elevator music and I surely wouldn't have a problem falling asleep to it. While the show would be fascinating and it would be an honor to hear some old pieces played in person, the music is not something I want to listen to in my free time. However, modern piano music is some of my favorite. I like that piano music now has evolved to include other instruments and singers. I like songs with words, where I can hear the beautiful piano music, but I am not stuck listening to solely it for 5 minutes straight. I love that pianos have evolved to make the sounds more beautiful and the design more unique.
“Researching Pianos - The Soundboard.” Piano Price Point - Consumer Guide to Pianos, 9 June 2020, https://pianopricepoint.com/researching-pianos-the-soundboard/.
S., Suzy. “The Evolution of the Piano: From the Harpsichord to the Modern Grand.” TakeLessons Blog, TakeLessons, 14 Feb. 2019, https://takelessons.com/blog/piano-evolution.
Songfacts. “A Thousand Years by Christina Perri - Songfacts.” Song Meanings at Songfacts, https://www.songfacts.com/facts/christina-perri/a-thousand-years-part-two
“[Learn about] ‘Für Elise’ by Beethoven.” Galaxy Music Notes, https://galaxymusicnotes.com/products/fur-elise-very-easy
Hello, loved your Piano Evolution blog. As a piano player, I have to admit to having played Fur Elise couple of times throughout my life. It is interesting how it evolved from a square shape into the modern shape we all know and recognize. I love the other song you added here too. Thousand Years is a personal favorite as I can imagine an immortal falling in love with a mortal. I like how you added the two musical elements and how they changed throughout the years the piano evolved. All in all, great job on your assignment.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed learning about the evolution of the piano. It's interesting to think about how different the older, classical music pieces like Fur Elise sounded on original square pianos. As a classical music playing violinist, my opinion may be biased, but I enjoy authentic, older day piano music the most. I think these older works really showcase the varying timbre that you mentioned. Older, classical piano music is an acquired taste and although I prefer it, I sometimes find myself getting bored with low energy, monotonous piano pieces, so I can understand where you're coming from:)
I occasionally like piano songs that are beautiful sounding, where it keeps a nice speed and the notes are around the middle of the piano, but I have to say, the piano songs that throw you for a loop by adding in the loud "BUM BUM BAAAHH"'s are my favorite. It's interesting to know that piano's started off with small range's, and here I thought piano's were always those big fancy Oklahoma shaped kinds, you know like the ones they usually depict in cartoons? The range of these behemoths is really cool, with them having the somber little tones that could calm you down all the way to the songs that sound like organized chaos(my favorite). The electronic piano's are also cool where you can add any sort of tone to them and literally play any song with one instrument that could sound like anything. And as I'm writing this, the A Thousand Years video that I was listening to changed to Owl City's Fireflies, where they also played a whole lot of notes with an electronic keyboard. The amazing range of these box boys is starting to make my head spin, they both involve piano's, but with different generations of them. The Beethoven song is a classic, and the A Thousand Years song never sounds bad, I've gotten tired of those sort of songs. Not to say they're bad, they're just not my taste anymore.
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