30/12/2024
10 Things You Should Know About the Piano
Know about the piano: the amount of black & white keys, piano keys, notes, octaves, & more.
Learn how many keys on a piano, all the piano key notes – including the amount of black and white keys on a piano – and so much more!
How well do you know the piano? Here are 10 things about the piano that everyone should know!
1. How many keys on a piano keyboard?
The standard piano has 88 keys: 52 white keys and 36 black keys. Keyboards can have between 25 and 88, with many clocking in at 61. Fun fact: The Imperial Bösendorfer, a specialty grand piano built by the Bösendorfer company, has ninety-seven keys – a total of 8 full octaves!
Keys on a piano with middle C highlighted.
2. Why are piano keys black and white?
Keys on a piano (like other keyboard instruments) are arranged in patterns of black and white keys so that we can more easily identify them. Why are keys on a piano black and white? Because of the original materials used to make them: ebony and ivory. (Hence the phrase, “Tickle the ivories!”) Today, the wooden piano keys are coated in colored plastic, but the traditional coloring continues. Fun fact: until the mid-19th century, the colors were reversed!
3. How many piano keys in an octave?
An octave is the span between, say, a C and the next C – a total of 8 tones (CDEFGABC). However, if you count the exact number of piano keys, including black keys, you’ll find 13!
4. Is the piano a string instrument or a percussion instrument?
The answer is: Both! Percussion instruments involve one item striking another to create sounds. String instruments are instruments that, well, have strings. When the strings vibrate, either through plucking (like a guitar), bowing (like a violin), or striking (like a piano), they create sound. The piano contains hammers that strike metal strings, making it part of both categories. Sometimes it’s also classified as a “keyboard instrument” along with the organ, harpsichord, and clavichord.
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