Why do Bosendorfer pianos have extra keys?
The idea was accepted and the first Bösendorfer Imperial Grand Piano (Model 290) was produced. The extra nine keys not only give additional notes but they enrich the sound of the piano in all registers, generating a deeper and more satisfying sound.
Number of keys differs depending on the kind of piano. Today, modern pianos have a total of 88 keys and older grand pianos have 85 keys. An advanced player often uses grand pianos to play complicated pieces of music.
A standard, full-sized piano has 52 white keys and 36 black keys, 88 keys total, which gives us seven full octaves.
Key number | MIDI note | Helmholtz name |
---|---|---|
64 | 84 | c′′′ 3-line octave |
63 | 83 | b′′ |
62 | 82 | a♯′′/b♭′′ |
There is an order of the keys in terms of difficulty, and it is counterintuitive. The most difficult key is C major! In general, the keys that are easiest to learn are simultaneously the least natural for the hand. As a rule of thumb, the more black keys in a given key signature, the more comfortable it will be.
"Mignon" is a Piano name many Australian's are familiar with, but did you know, they were named after James Nicholson's granddaughter, Mignon Nicholson? Made in Germany, especially for James and to his specification, many still survive today having now pleased Australian families for generations.
Musical Innovation: A Grander Grand Piano Most pianos have 88 keys, but craftsman Wayne Stuart has designed a piano with an unprecedented 102. The Stuart and Sons grand has a distinctive sound that one pianist describes as "clear and crisp as white wine."
Some pianos have extra keys on them. Some known manufacturers and dealers sell pianos with 97 keys. Others also have been noted to have 108 keys; this is commonly known as a 9 octave piano. One such piano is the Imperial Bösendorfer that is 290cm long and has 97 keys.
Can a piano be tuned after 20 years? Yes, any piano can be tuned after years of no use, as long as it is working condition.
Tim Storms boasts a vocal range of 10 octaves and his lowest note is so deep it can only be heard by elephants.
What singer can sing 7 octaves?
The seventh octave is the range of notes between C7 and C8. It is easier for very high coloratura sopranos to sing in this octave, but some people who are capable of singing in the bass range (like singers Adam Lopez, Virgo Degan, Nicola Sedda or Dimash Kudaibergen) can do it.
One study on Freddie's vocal range even confirmed that he was able to vary from about 92.2 Hz to 784 Hz, meaning he was reliably able to hit notes from the booming low of F#2 to the high pitch G5 – that covers a full three octaves!

The pattern layout is made up of seven white keys and five black keys. The same pattern is then repeated a few times, depending on the size of the piano. The white keys are known as natural notes, and the black keys are known as the sharps and flats.
The black keys are in groupings and help us quickly identify the note names of the white keys. Out of these 12 notes, artists and composers usually choose from patterns of 7 main notes (called scales or modes) to compose their music.
Ivories may refer to: Ivory carvings, objects made from ivory. Piano keys, slang as keys were made from ivory until the 1950s.
From there it's an easy skip to D, the root of today's subject, the “saddest key,” D minor. That the key of D minor is the key of true sorrow is ostensibly inarguable at this point in time.
- Liszt – La Campanella. ...
- Ravel – Gaspard de la Nuit. ...
- Conlon Nancarrow – Studies for Player Piano. ...
- Sorabji – Opus clavicembalisticum. ...
- Charles Valentin Alkan – Concerto for Solo Piano. ...
- Chopin – Étude Op. ...
- Scriabin – Sonata No. ...
- Stravinsky – Trois mouvements de Petrouchka.
A-sharp minor is likely the least used minor key in music as it is not generally considered a practical key for composition.
The boudoir grand piano, also called a parlour grand piano, was a popular choice for home use in the 19th and early 20th centuries for those who could afford it. Although smaller than a concert grand piano, the boudoir piano produces a rich and balanced tone.
In early Beethoven works he was working with 5 octaves and in his later work, we start to see the introduction of pieces written for the larger keyboard. From this period onwards, the 7 octaves, 88 keys became the norm and any composer or musician was writing for an instrument with the full complement of keys.
How many notes can a pianist play?
This means that the piano can play 88 different pitches (or "notes"), spanning a range of a bit over seven octaves. The black keys are for the "accidentals" (F♯/G♭, G♯/A♭, A♯/B♭, C♯/D♭, and D♯/E♭), which are needed to play in all twelve keys.
Today's composers usually write piano music that fits within the range of an 88-key model. Most piano makers also accept this as the limit, because anything outside is considered too high or low for the human ear. But there are a few exceptions.
How many piano keys you need to play Für Elise? Most of the piece can be played on a 61 key keyboard, the coda (final part) needs a 76 key version or one must use octave shift function.
How Many Keys Do You Need To Properly Play “Fur Elise”? Simply put, you'll need at least an 88 key piano to play “Fur Elise” as Ludwig Nohl transcribed Beethoven's original piece. You can do this either with an electric piano or a MIDI keyboard connected to a DAW – as long you have access to the full range.
Mozart was born in 1756, 24 years before Beethoven was born and so Mozart played on the 66 key Fortepiano which you can see in this video.
It happens. If your piano is old, was poorly manufactured, neglected, or some combination of the three, your piano might be untunable. This is most often a repairable problem.
The average mass produced piano lasts 30 years. Hand-crafted pianos last substantially longer, often exceeding 50 years. Over time, the piano will need regular tuning, regulation, rebuilding, and other maintenance. A well-maintained piano can last in excess of 100 years.
However, often a giveaway piano is given away because it hasn't been played in years or the owner knows that it is need of some repairs and is not interested in putting any money into it.
Extra keys
The Bösendorfer Imperial features 97 keys: a full eight octaves. This is in contrast to their other extended model, the Bösendorfer 225, which has 92 keys (down to F0).
One of only sixty duplex pianos made, this Bösendorfer grand piano was built with 164 keys—the standard 88 on the lower keyboard and 76 on the upper—to a design developed by the Hungarian composer and inventor Emánuel Moór.
Why are there 5 black keys?
The piano as a whole is divided up into a bunch of patterns that we then call octaves. In total there are 7. For every 7 white keys, you'll have 5 black keys to help you break down the tonal patterns. Those 7 notes make up a scale.
Composers wanted to expand the range of their music
But the instrument's four-octave range was limiting. So, piano manufacturers designed new pianos with more keys, so that composers like Haydn and Mozart could write more challenging material for a fuller keyboard.
Yamaha und Bösendorfer
In 2008, the Japanese enterprise Yamaha acquires Bösendorfer. Conscious and cautious about the precious heritage Bösendorfer is carrying, the Austrian manufactory remains fully independent and continues to be operated as a separate Austrian company, fully owned by Yamaha.
Prices for Steinways and Bosendorfers
A Steinway S grand, 5'1″ in length, ranges from $62,000-70,000. A similarly-sized Bosendorfer 155 is $137,000.
The Stuart and Sons grand piano has 14 more keys than most, which means its lowest and highest notes live very much on the edge. Its designer, Wayne Stuart, says a few other grands can play as low as this 102-key model, but none can play as high. "I'd hate to go back to the 88-key piano," he says.
Australian piano maker Wayne Stuart hand-built the 108-key instrument at his independent studio in southern New South Wales.
The Black Keys were joined by a special guest for their performance at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards, as Johnny Depp traded guitar licks with frontman Dan Auerbach on 'Gold On the Ceiling' and 'Lonely Boy. '
Looking at the key of E flat minor we find the blackest of keys, described by Steblin as having “feelings of anxiety and the soul's deepest distress.” Interestingly, and by contrast, Steblin makes a case for A flat major being the key of Death that would have been recognized by composers of the time for that ...
First of all, a keyboard with 108 keys encompasses nine octaves minus one note. All keys are thus present nine times along the whole keyboard. This also is a rational limit of what can be made with steel strings.
A 61 key piano only has 5 octaves which are not always enough for some repertoire. This may require musicians to transpose and adjust the sheet music to fit the instrument. For this reason, 88 key pianos are the preference as there are no limitations on what music someone can play.
How many keys does a Steinway grand piano have?
It is a piano mecca – sort of the center of the piano universe.” There are 12,116 individual parts that make up a Steinway grand piano. The action for just 1 key is made up of over 57 individual parts (so for 88 keys that's ~4,500 parts). There are over 1,600 Steinway Artists worldwide - about 800 in the U.S.