A piano has a keyboard with white keys and black keys. When a key is pressed down, the damper comes off the string and a hammer hits the string. It hits it very quickly and bounces off so that the string is free to vibrate and make a sound. Each key is a level that makes a hammer inside the piano hit a string inside, producing a sound. Each string has a different length and so produces-a different note. When the player takes their finger off the key the damper falls back onto the string and the sound stops. The strings are stretched very tightly across the frame, passing over a bridge on the way. The bridge touches the soundboard. This means that the vibrations are sent to the soundboard. The soundboard is a very important part of the piano. If it is damaged the piano will not make a sound.
The mechanism which makes the hammer bounce off the string very quickly is called the “escapement”. In 1821 Sebastian Erard invented a kind of double escapement. This made it possible to repeat the note very quickly. The hammer only touches the string for about one thousandth of a second. The hammers are covered with felt which is a mixture of wool, silk and hair.
At the bottom of every modern piano, there are at least two pedals, which are levers that the pianist presses down with his or her feet to change the sound. Many pianos have three pedals, but a few have even more. Each pedal changes the sound in a different way.
The damper pedal is the most important pedal, and so many composers often write down in a piece of music when the pianist should press and when he or she should let go of the damper pedal. In most classical music, there is a sign that says "Ped." where the pedal should be pressed, and one that looks like an asterisk where the pedal should be let go. Pedal marks can also appear as a straight line under the staff. Often, the pianist will let go of the pedal and press it again right away; this is called "changing pedal". Sometimes, the music will simply say "con pedale", which in Italian means "with pedal". It means that the damper pedal should be used, but the pianist should know when to change the pedal.
Another sign, which tells a pianist to press the soft pedal is "una corda," (Italian for "one string"). It is held down until another sign, "tre corde" (meaning "three strings"), appears, telling the pianist to let go of the soft pedal. In early pianos, it was possible to press the pedal a little way so that the hammers hit two strings, then press it further so that they hit only one string.
There is no sign for the sostenuto pedal, so it is up to the pianist on whether to use it in a specific piece of music.
Once the piano became popular in the late 18th century many composers wrote music for the piano. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart started to learn on harpsichords when he was very small, but the piano was becoming popular when he was a young man and he wrote many sonatas and concertos for the piano. Franz Joseph Haydn also wrote a lot of piano music. Ludwig van Beethoven was a very famous pianist before he became very famous as a composer. His piano compositions include 5 concertos and 32 sonatas. In the Romantic period many composers wrote for the piano. They include Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin. Later composers include Sergei Rachmaninoff, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich and Bela Bartok.
Some famous piano players from the early days of the piano include Dussek, Mozart, Muzio Clementi, John Field and Chopin. In the 19th century Franz Liszt was a very great influence on the piano by composing and performing very difficult music. Other great pianists include Clara Schumann and Anton Rubinstein. 20th century pianists include Artur Schnabel, Vladimir Horowitz, Josef Hofmann, Wilhelm Kempff, Dinu Lipati, Claudio Arrau, Artur Rubinstein, Sviatoslav Richter and Alfred Brendel. Among the greatest pianists today are Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Leif Ove Andsnes, Boris Berezovsky and Evgeny Kissin.Connor Farrow
Pianists who play popular music include Liberace, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Elton John, Billy Joel, Thelonious Monk, Tori Amos and Ray Charles. Perhaps the greatest jazz pianist was Fats Waller.
The piano has been a very popular instrument ever since the mid 18th century when it soon replaced the clavichord and the harpsichord. By the early 19th century the sound that the piano made was big enough to fill large concert halls. Smaller pianos were made for use in people’s homes. At first these included square pianos and giraffe pianos, later on the upright pianos became popular for home use. Pianos are not often used in orchestras (if they are, they are part of the percussion section). They may, however, be used for piano concertos (pieces for solo pianist accompanied by orchestra). There is a vast amount of music written for piano solo. The piano can also be used together with other instruments, in jazz groups, and for accompanying singing.
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are a group of islands near the coast of France. The five largest islands are:
The main industries are tourism, horticulture (growing plants for food) and financial services (businesses to do with money). Most people speak English, although some people in Guernsey, Jersey and Sark still speak the traditional language of their island.
Constitutionally, the islands are part of the British crown, but are not part of the United Kingdom. Being part of the mediaeval duchy of Normandy, allegiance is owed to the Queen but not to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which cannot pass laws for the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey except for defence and diplomatic matters, except if the bailiwicks ask it to. In general, the bailiwicks are self-governing, but they often pass laws which are like United Kingdom laws. However some of their laws are still based on Norman law.
Hedonism
Hedonism is the view that pleasure and suffering are the basis for what is good or bad. It is a that first appeared in ancient philosophy. "" is the ancient Greek word for "pleasure". There are many different beliefs in hedonism. But in all forms of hedonism, people think that what makes them happy is good. They also think avoiding suffering is good. Some people think pain is the opposite of pleasure, but others do not. Some forms of hedonism say it is important to get as many pleasurable experiences as possible. Others say that the quality of the pleasure matters.
Hedonism is often wrongly said to be related to sex. Sex can be a very pleasurable experience, but when philosophers talk about hedonism, they think more about the pleasure of reading a good book, listening to classical music, or discussing with other philosophers.
Two main types of hedonism are Cyrenaicism and Epicureanism. Cyrenaicism is where people make themselves happy in the fastest amount of time. Epicureanism is where people like to be happy but they do so slowly so that they cause less pain to themselves. They also look more into the future and go for the higher pleasures in life. On the other hand, Maslowism is the term for when you combine the concepts of utilitarianism and hedonism.
Shinkansen
The is a group of High-speed rail lines in Japan, upon which the famous "Bullet Trains" run.
The Shinkansen are run by the many JR companies. In the past, Japan Railway was called "Japanese National Railways." It is now one group of private companies. JR also run commuter trains and inter city trains around Tokyo.
The name "Bullet Train" is the English translation of the Japanese word "dangan ressha" (弾丸列車), which was the name given to the project while it was being studied in the 1940s. Nowadays, the trains are called Shinkansen trains. The name Shinkansen means "New Trunk Line". The trains are called "Super Expresses".