The piano is an elegant instrument that creates beautiful music. The early concept of the piano was called the harpsichord. It became very popular for making music in the 1500s and 1600s. Every time a key was pressed, a string was plucked to make a sound. It took until the 1700s for the modern-day piano to be created. An Italian musician named Bartolomeo Cristofori was an expert harpsichord maker. Cristofori was unhappy with the harpsichord’s inability to change volumes while playing. He developed the first piano as a solution.
It did not take long for the piano to become popular in Europe. Germany’s leader Frederick the Great brought attention to the piano when he purchased several for himself. Famous German composer Johann Sebastian Bach approved of the piano as well. One musician described the magic of the piano by saying, “The piano keys are black and white but they sound like a million colors in your mind.” Many improvements were made to the piano over the years. Cabinetmakers built exquisite cases for pianos. This helped improve sound quality. Pianos have become more sophisticated, but even the newest models are still very closely related to Cristofori’s first design.
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Questions
Why does the author include the statement “ . . . they sound like a million colors in your mind”?
To show how simple an instrument the piano is
To show that the piano is very black and white
To show that the piano is a good tool for painting
To show how vivid, beautiful, and complex the sounds of the piano can be