Piano Comprehension text

   Read, look for the unknown words in the dictionary and answer the questions.                                                                

                                  PIANO

                     

The piano is a musical instrument of the string family, although the piano can be considered both a string and percussion instrument.  The piano is believed to have been invented in approximately 1700. The piano has a keyboard (a row of keys) that is struck by the pianist's fingers and thumbs. The keys cause the hammers to strike the strings and create sound. The piano is the most commonly played instrument by musicians in the world, and it is used in a variety of music styles including classical, pop, jazz, rock, blues, folk, country, and many more. Bartolomeo Cristofori is credited with the invention of the piano. There are a variety of piano types today including the grand piano, upright piano, specialized piano, the electric piano, and the digital piano.

The keys of pianos have been made of a variety of woods over time including sugar pine, spruce, ebony, basswood and plastic. Pianos have a total of 88 black and white keys. The piano has the widest range of tones of all instruments. Famous pianists include Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Billy Joel, Liberace, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elton John, Martha Argerich, Chopin, and Myra Hess.

                                         

Questions:

1-Which musical instrument family does the piano belong to?

2-How is the piano played?

3-How many keys has the standard piano got?

4-How many types of piano are there? Name some of them.

5-Who created the first known piano?

6-What are the keys usually made of?

7-Which kind of music is very popular played with the piano?

8-Name some famous pianists.

9-Draw a piano and label its most important parts.