One big regret I have is I never followed through with piano lessons as a kid. My mom plays beautifully and started teaching us kids when really young, but I hated it and over time the effort stopped.
It’s a real shame because I love piano music and I’d love to be able to sit down and play music these days. I’m not the only kids to bail on piano lessons; it’s not very exciting for kids who love nothing more to than to run around outside and play sports.
While I can’t play, I enjoy listening to music and I think a piano is a terrific piece for any living room if you have the space. I don’t care for it when a piano is crammed into a small living room (that’s why upright pianos are great), but when there’s space for a baby grand or grand, it looks fabulous.
If you’re interested in the anatomy of a piano, we put together two diagrams below illustrating the different parts of both a grand piano and upright piano. Below that we list out and briefly describe each part.
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Parts of a Grand Piano
- Action Frame: Tightly mounted to the piano to keep the playing mechanism securely mounted.
- Dampers: Triangular felts used to stop the vibration of the strings.
- Bass Strings: Steel core winding used to slow down the vibration of wire.
- Cover: Folds down to cover the keys when not in use.
- Bass Bridge: Connects the sound of the vibrating string into the body of the bass.
- Cast Iron Plate: Sustains the massive tension of the strings.
- Soundboard: Also known as belly, it is the large wooden diaphragm of the piano.
- Treble Bridge: Long wooden rails that stretch across the soundboard and guides strings on the vibration process.
- Treble Strings: Wire that starts at one tuning pin, wounds around a hitch pin and returns from where it started.
- Tuning Pins: Threaded steel “peg” usually around 1 1/2” long where every sting is wound.
- Leg: Adds beauty and forms the foundation for the piano.
- Wheel: Used for moving around the piano.
- Hammer: Felted mallet that’s also used to produce a sound.
- Keyboard (White and black keys): The set of keys on a piano that makes it a piano.
Anatomy of an Upright Piano
- Hammer Rail: Where hammers rest inside the piano.
- Case/Body: The decorative wooden housing of the piano.
- Muffler Felt: The cloth that is lowered between the hammers and strings that create a muffled effect.
- Pressure Bar: Keeps the strings against the v-bar and from slipping sideways.
- Tuning Pins: Threaded steel “peg” usually around 1 1/2” long where every sting is wound.
- Pin Block: Also known as wrest-plank, it’s a large thick piece of hardwood used to anchor tuning pins.
- Strings: The part that the hammer strikes and vibrates extremely rapidly to produce sound or music.
- Keybed: Where the keyframe, keys and action sits inside the piano.
- Keyboard: The set of keys on a piano that makes it a piano.
- Pedal Rod: Levers controlled by the feet to make the sound softer or longer.
- Treble Bridge: Long wooden rails that stretch across the soundboard and guides strings on the vibration process.
- Treble Strings: Wire that starts at one tuning pin, wounds around a hitch pin and returns from where it started.
- Soft Pedal: The pedal most used in post-Classical music producing melodramatic tones.
- Muffler Pedal: The middle pedal that’s rarely used among the three pedals.
- Damper Pedal: The most used of the three pedals with the primary function to execute most passages.
- Hitch Pins: A row of slanting metal pins where the strings are attached at the ends.
- Bass Bridge: Connects the sound of the vibrating string into the body of the bass.
- Soundboard: Also known as belly, it is the large wooden diaphragm of the piano.
- Metal Frame: Also called the plate or harp, it is used to anchor both ends of the strings to withstand tension.
