Organ
The main difference is between organ on one side and piano and harpsichord on the other. While in these two the sound is produced by the vibration of strings, in the organ the notes come out with the passage of air through vertical tubes. The organ has no strings. When a key is pressed, it releases the passage of air through a certain tube, and each one of them produces a different timbre. Depending on the organ, it can have hundreds of keys and pipes.
Piano
The piano has strings that vibrate when the keys are pressed. It is this vibration that generates sound. A mechanical system causes the strings to receive the impact of a piece (hammer) every time the pianist touches a key – and he can even control the force with which the string is percussed. The piano has 88 keys plus the pedals, which serve to extend, soften and even muffle the vibration of the strings.
Clove
Externally, the harpsichord differs from the piano in that it has no pedals and is smaller – it has thinner keys than the piano. But what really changes is the mechanics. On the harpsichord, the strings do not receive impact, they are “pinched”, in a similar way to what the fingers do when playing a guitar. This prevents the harpsichordist from changing the intensity of the sound. No use hitting the key harder. The sound is always the same.
inside the piano
1. Inside the instrument, there is an extension of the piano key, which forms a kind of lever. When the key is at rest, the hammer remains down
2. When the key is pressed, its extension rises and the hammer hits a string, which vibrates and produces the sound. If the pianist hits the key hard, the hammer hits the string hard, generating a more intense sound.
inside the carnation
1. The key extension also exists on the harpsichord. The difference is that there is no hammer. In its place, the harpsichord has a kind of needle, the plectrum, which is at the end of a piece called the jumper.
2. When the key is pressed, the jumper rises. Then the plectrum pinches the string, causing it to vibrate, and returns to its original position. The contact between plectrum and string ends there. It doesn’t matter the force applied to the key
CONSULTANCY: EDUARDO MONTEIRO, PIANO PROFESSOR AT USP’S MUSIC DEPARTMENT