Q 01/05

Who invented the piano in Florence while keeping the Medici court's instruments?

A) Bartolomeo Cristofori

B) Antonio Stradivari

C) Giuseppe Guarneri

D) Nicolò Amati

Answer · why

A) Bartolomeo Cristofori

Bartolomeo Cristofori came from Padua at the invitation of Prince Ferdinando de' Medici. His design was largely ignored in Italy and caught on in Germ...

Q 02/05

The piano's original Italian name promised a keyboard that could play with what quality?

A) Soft and loud

B) Sweet and clear

C) Long and short

D) High and low

Answer · why

A) Soft and loud

Soft and loud is 'piano e forte' in Italian: the new keyboard answered to how hard each key was pressed. The phrase shrank to pianoforte and then, odd...

Q 03/05

How many keys does a standard modern piano have?

A) 22

B) 44

C) 88

D) 176

Answer · why

C) 88

88 is where a long growth spurt stopped. The first pianos spanned only about four octaves, and makers kept adding keys through the 1800s as composers ...

Q 04/05

Which Peanuts character plays a toy piano while Lucy leans on it and pesters him?

A) Linus

B) Schroeder

C) Charlie Brown

D) Franklin

Answer · why

B) Schroeder

Schroeder plays masterpieces on a toy piano whose black keys are only painted on. Charles Schulz got the idea from a toy piano that belonged to his yo...

Q 05/05

On a three-pedal grand piano, what is the leftmost pedal called?

A) Sostenuto

B) Una corda

C) Celeste

D) Damper

Answer · why

B) Una corda

Una corda means 'one string'. On early pianos the pedal slid the hammers across until they struck a single string per note, and on a modern grand they...