If you are a beginner pianist, then it will be useful for you to learn a little more about your instrument than those who have nothing to do with the piano know. Now here will be told how the piano is arranged and what happens when we press the keys. Having obtained this knowledge, you may not be able to tune the piano yourself, but at least you will have an idea of how to fix minor problems with the piano and continue classes until the tuner arrives.
What do we usually see outside when we look at the piano? As a rule, this is a kind of “black box” with teeth-keys and foot-pedals, the main secret of which is hidden inside. And what's inside this black box? Here I would like to stop for a moment and quote the lines of the famous poem for children of Osip Mandelstam:
We saw today
Town inside the piano.
The whole city is bone,
Hammers are a mountain.
The strings shine with the heat of the sun,
Everywhere a soft heart,
Whatever street is a string
In this city is visible.
In every piano and piano inside this mysterious black box there is such a “town”. This is what we will see by opening the piano lid:
Now it is clear where the sounds come from: they are born at the moment when the hammers strike the strings. Let's look at the external and internal structure of the piano in more detail. Each piano consists of three main parts: case, acoustic (sound) unit and percussion-key mechanism (mechanics).
Essentially, the most massive part of the piano is his bodythat hides everything that happens inside and protects all the mechanisms of the instrument from dust, water, unintentional damage, penetration of domestic cats and other ugliness. In addition, the body performs the important role of the supporting base, which does not allow the 200-pound structure to fall to the floor (the average piano weighs about so much).
Acoustic unit the piano or the piano form those parts that are responsible for ensuring that the instrument makes musical sounds. Here we put the strings (this is what sounds), the cast-iron frame (on which the strings are attached), as well as the resonant deck (this is a large canvas glued from pine planks, which reflects the weak sound of the string, amplifying and growing it to concert strength).
And finally Mechanics Piano is a whole system of mechanisms and levers that are needed in order for the keys struck by the pianist to respond with the desired sounds, and so that at the right moment the sound, at the request of the playing musician, is immediately interrupted. Here we have to name the keys themselves, hammers, dampers and other parts of the instrument, but pedals can also be included here.
How does all this work?
Sounds come from hammers hitting the strings. Piano keyboard total 88 keys (52 of them are white, and black - 36). On some old pianos there are only 85 keys. This means that a total of 88 notes can be played on the piano; for this, 88 hammers must be inside this instrument that will strike the strings. But it turns out that there are much more strings on which the hammers strike; there are 220 of them. Why is that? The fact is that from 1 to 3 strings answer each key from the inside.
For low loud sounds, one or two strings are enough, as they are long and thick (even have a copper winding). High sounds are born thanks to short and thin strings. As a rule, their volume is not too strong, therefore it is amplified by adding two more exactly the same. It turns out that one hammer strikes not one string, but three at once, tuned to unison (i.e. the same sound). The group of such three strings, which make the same sound together, is called in unison strings.
All strings are mounted on a special frame, which is cast from cast iron. It is very strong, as it must withstand a large force of string tension. The screws by which the desired tension of the strings is achieved and fixed are called spiked (or virbeli). Virbelles inside the piano are as many as 220 strings; they are located in the upper part in large groups and together form virbelbank (Bank of Virbel). The pegs are screwed not into the frame itself, but into a powerful wooden bar, which is fixed behind it.
Can I customize the piano myself?
I do not advise if you are not a professional customizer, but you can still correct something. When the piano is tuned, each of the pegs is twisted with a special key so that the string sounds the desired height. What to do if any of the strings are weak and one of their choirs produces dirt? In general, you need to invite a customizer if you do not do this regularly. But before his arrival, this problem can be solved independently by slightly pulling up the desired string.
To do this, you first need to determine which of the chorus strings was upset - this is easy to do, you need to look at which chorus the hammer hits, then listen to each of the three strings individually. After that, you just need to slightly turn the peg of this string clockwise, making sure that the string acquires the same system as the "healthy" strings.
Where to get the key to tune the piano?
How and what to set up the piano, if there is no special key? In no case do not try to turn the pegs with pliers: firstly, it is not effective, and secondly, you can get hurt. In order to tighten the string, you can use ordinary hexagons - such a tool is in the arsenal of any car owner:
If there are no hexagons at home, I recommend to buy - they are quite inexpensive (within 100 rubles), usually sold in sets. From the set choose hex with a diameter of 8 mm and the corresponding head, the resulting instrument can easily adjust the position of any of the pegs of the piano.
As you can see, everything is quite simple. Only, I warn you that with this method you can solve the problem for a while. You should not, however, get involved in "pulling up the pegs" and refuse the services of a customizer: first, you can be spoiled by spoiling the general system, and secondly, this is not the only necessary operation for your instrument.
What to do if the string is broken?
Sometimes strings break on the piano (or break, in general, break) the strings. What to do in this situation before the arrival of the customizer? Knowing the device of the piano, you can remove the broken string (remove it from the "hook" at the bottom and from the "peg" on the top). But that is not all… . The fact is that when a disco string breaks off, then one of its neighbors (on the left or on the right) loses its system (“relaxes”). It will also have to be removed, or fastened down on the "hook", making a knot, and then adjusting in a familiar way to the desired height.
What happens when you press the piano keys?
Now let's look at how the piano mechanic works. Here is a drawing diagram of the principle of operation of piano mechanics:
Here you see that the key itself does not in any way connect with the sound source, that is, with the string, but only serves as a kind of lever that actuates the internal mechanisms. As a result of the key action (the part that is visible in the figure is hidden when viewed from the outside), special mechanisms transfer the impact energy to the hammer, and it hits the string.
Simultaneously with the hammer the damper moves (the silencer pad that lies on the string), it detaches from the string in order not to interfere with its free oscillations. Hammer also after hitting instantly bounces back. While the key is pressed on the keyboard, the vibrations of the strings continue as soon as the key is released, the damper drops to the strings, extinguishing their vibrations, and the sound stops.
What are piano pedals for?
Usually a piano or grand piano has two pedals, sometimes three. Pedals are needed to diversify, decorate the sound. Right pedal tears off all the dampers from the strings at once, with the result that after releasing the key the sound does not disappear. With its help, we can achieve a sound in a simultaneous number of more sounds than we could play with just our fingers.
There is a widespread opinion among inexperienced people that if you press the right pedal, the sound of the piano will become louder. To some extent, this is indeed true. Musicians are inclined to appreciate not only loudness, but enrichment of timbre. When acting on a string with open dampers, many others begin to respond to this string, which are associated with it according to acoustic-physical laws. As a result, the sound is saturated with overtones, making it more complete, rich and flight.
Left pedal also used to create a special kind of colorful sound. By its action, it muffles the sound. On the piano and pianos, the left pedal operates in various ways. For example, on the piano, with the left pedal pressed, the hammer pedal pressed (to put it more correctly) closer to the strings, as a result, the force of their impact decreases and the volume decreases accordingly. On the piano, the left pedal with the help of special mechanisms shifts all the mechanics with respect to the strings, that the hammer instead of three strings strikes only one, and this creates a stunning effect of remoteness or depth of sound.
The piano also has third pedalwhich is located between the right pedal and the left. The functions of this pedal may be different. In one case it is pedal-sostenutoneeded to hold individual bass sounds, in another moderator, which greatly reduces the sonority of the instrument (for example, for night classes), in the third case, the middle pedal connects some additional function. For example, it lowers a bar with metal plates between hammers and strings, and thus changes the usual timbre of the piano to any "exotic" color.
To summarize ...
We learned the device of the piano and got an idea of how to tune the piano, learned how to eliminate minor flaws in the instrument before the arrival of the tuner. I suggest you also watch the video on the topic of the article - you can spy on the production of musical instruments at the Yamaha piano factory.
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