Main Instrument in Orchestra - Keyboards

Hello! Another orchestral instrument article - now is keyboards.

Keyboards

1. Piano (Klavier in German, Pianoforte in Italian) - The most important instrument in orchestra.

Top view of piano

Side view

It invented around 1709 by Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731), a harpsichord builder and keeper of the royal musical instruments in Florence. He developed it from harpsichord. However it wasn't popular until 18th century, along with better building techinques. It got this name because pianist can control dynamic by stamping on pedals. (Piano means "soft, quiet" and Forte means "strong, loud, hard" in Italian.)
There are two kinds of piano - grand piano (Also divided to grand and a smaller baby grand.) and vertical upright piano. A grand is good for concert while an upright is suit for practice, also save a lot of house space.
Almost of pianos have 52 white keys and 36 black keys for a total of 88 keys.
Each piano has three pedals:
(1) Una Corda or Soft pedal. It's on the left side on piano. When you stamp on this pedal, it makes hammers move left (in concert piano) or move closer to strings (in upright) struck only one string for each note, so a note is softer.
(2) Sostenuto pedal. It's on the middle on paino. When you use this pedal, you can sustain selected notes, while other notes uneffected. This pedal is rarely found in European made piano because it is not popular.
(3) Sustaining pedal, the right side on piano. "Sustains" all keys by move the dampers (which are on strings) away from the strings.
Piano is not played in symphony.

2. Harpsichord - Very old keyboard instrument. Shape like piano but, to compare them, piano is string striking hammer harpsichord, while harpsichord is string plucking piano.

You cannot control volume of this instrument but it has two manual for acoustic quality, the lower one is loud choir, while the upper is soft choir.
Very popular in Baroque era but decline in 18th century. However, it made a resurgence in 20th century and still be played for Baroque music nowadays.

3. Organ -  The oldest key board instrument. Imagine that you play piano connected with big and long pipe. It uses wind moving through pipes to make sound. Its sound is suitable for playing alone, without any instrument.

It is supposed that it devised in Alexandria in the 3rd century BC.
Organs are roughly divided to:
(1) Pipe organ - church organ (see above picture) and theater organ for examples.

(2) Reed organ or pump organ

The most-known organ song is Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, as I said in article of Bach's biography.

Musician's Biography No. 1 - Johann Sebastian Bach 

Note: "Organ' Symphony (Symphony No. 3 in C minor), composed by Camille Saint-Saëns, using organ in second movement, though it is not really song for organ.

I have to tell you that I will pick only widely played instrument in orchestra, to make content simple.

The end. See you later in next article!

Note: These pictures are public domain.