History: The piccolo was originally made out of wood and was featured in man prominent composers' works. One of the earliest pieces to use the piccolo was Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. However, the most familiar use of the piccolo is in the end of John Philip Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

The pianoforte did not attract much attention in the early 1700's. Builders simplified the action for ease of manufacture , eliminating the escapement and the check, the two features most essential to good control over dynamics and articulation. The pianoforte was simply grouped with other keyboard novelties of the day and few were made. In the 1760's and 1770s more significant advancements began to appear on the scene. For example, Johann Andreas Stein of Vi enna included an escapement on his piano that pleased Mozart in 1777. Johann Christian Bach was the first to perform in public on the pianoforte in England. His promotion of the small, "square" pianos of Johannes Zumpe made th em fashionable. By the late 1770's, hundreds of the Zumpe-style pianos were being made each year by various s builders in England. It was a small, rectangular Instrument with a simple action without escapement or check. The sound was louder and brighter than a clavichord and more capable of musical expressiveness than a spinet (small harpsichords popular at that time).

By the late 1700's, John Broadwood and Company had made many improvements by taking a scientific approach to design. Broadwood's "grand" piano action had escapement and check.

His scale was engineered by a scientist for proper string length, composition, and striking point of the hammer. The large, harpsichord shaped case was sturdy, and concern was given to the balance of string tension. At that time, some manufacturers began to build various types of upright pianos. A number of devices for sustaining or altering the tone were added. Several dozen manufacturers In London were producing less than 40 pianos per year each by 1800. In contrast, Broadwood, with a factory employing 300 technician, was then making 400 pianos per year.

Between 1791 and 1815, 135 keyboard instrument builders are listed in Vienna, and many changes were being made in the piano. Key color changed to white with black sharps, having previously been the reverse. Cases became heavier as longer, thicker, higher tension strings were used with large hammers. By 1820 the typical Viennese grand piano was nearly 2.5 meters long, with a range of 6 or 6 1/2 octaves, and had two to six pedals each activating some devise to alter the tone of the instrument.

Around 1800, iron bracing began to be used to strengthen the frame the which allowed the use of heavier hammers on thicker, higher tension strings. Many types of hammer coverings were tried to replace the harsh toned leather covered style of early days . By the middle of the 19th Century, felt over wood became the norm for hammers. Improved actions were more complex for grands and included a sticker or stick reaching up from the end of the key to operate the upright pianos, which at that time were more like awkward, upended grands.

In the early 1800s a smaller upright "cottage piano' and a larger 'square piano' were developed for the popular market. Large numbers of there were sold In England and France to those who could not afford a satisfactory musical instrument but were enthused by the piano's charm and appeal.

America began receiving pianos in the 1770's. The first built was in 1775 by Johann Behrent in Philadelphia. The first American piano patent was applied for In 1796. The first U.S. born piano manufacturer was Jonas Chickering. He started his firm in 1823 and became successful  and innovative In piano design. His full cast iron plate for the grand made possible more advances In string tension and a resultant big piano sound. Heinrich Steinweg immigrated to New York from Germany in 1853. The Steinway and Sons piano company that he developed made significant improvements in reliability and resilience.

In the 1860s, Steinway applied the new piano technology to the uprights, opening a new era of piano manufacture. Specialty houses began to supply standardized parts to manufacturers. Expensive, technical procedures were replaced by efficient assembly line techniques. Quality pianos could then be built by every size of manufacturing firm. Traditional European builders resisted these changes and American manufacturers, after the Steinway model, took the lead in world trade. Square grands consisted of 90% of the U.S. market in the 1860's, but were almost entirely replaced by grands and especially the uprights by the 189O's.

Most pianos built after 1900, and many of the pianos of the 1890's and 1880's reflect modern technology, style, and performance. They are similar to the modern piano of today in most respects. Reblitz (1974, p.l) divides pianos into three chronological periods: 1700-1830 "antique", 1850-1900 "Victorian", and 1900 to now "modern". These demarcations generally are characterized by the style of cabinetry as well as the maturity of the action design and quality of the tone production of each period. That the piano has been popular can be exemplified by the fact that over 5000 different brands have been produced (Reblitz, 1965).

The 19th Century was also an age of innovation, trial, and error in piano design. Every style and combination imaginable was attempted, including building into the piano a harpsichord, an organ, or harmonium, disguising the piano as some other type of furniture, or installing innumerable devises to alter the tone. One Interesting experimental category is the "Sostente Pianos", referring to the attempt to make a sustained sound like the organ or the violin. Methods attempted include:

Endless bows . A bow that revolves continually is pressed against the string on demand. A few of the many examples include: Clavecin-Vielle, Paris, 1708; Lyrichord, Plenius, 1741; Bogenhammerklavier, Grenier, 1779; Claviola, U.S.A., 1802; and many others through 1892.

Compressed Air. After the hammer Is struck, the string continues to vibrate by a jet of compressed air: Anemocorde, Paris, 1789, others through 1871.

Transmitted Vibrations. An elastic body like music wire will vibrate if a rod connected to it is rubbed: Harmonichord, Dresden, 1809 (a rotating drum touching the strings); Coelison, Bohemia, 1821 (keys attached directly to the strings) and others.

Quick and Repeated Movement of the Hammers. Included optional attachments that used a mechanical device to have the hammers, or smaller auxiliary hammers or strips of cloth or leather make repeated strokes against the string: Piano tremolopone , Paris, 1844; Melopiano, 1873 Armonipiano, France; and others.

The Combination of Hammer Striking the String and Free Vibrating Reeds. Piano a prolongement; Piano Scande, Paris, 1853; Piano a sons soutenus, and others.

Electronic Principle. Electrochord, Bohemia, Forster Co., 1932; Electronic Piano, Phillips Co, 1958 (no strings, no hammers , no sound board). Electronic instruments with piano like touch and tone have become very popular In the 1980's.

In the 1890's, the "reproducing pianos" started to gain popularity. The earliest type of player was a device that was pushed in front of the piano. While the operator pumped the foot treadles, the player mechanism played on the keys with wooden "fingers". In the early 1900's manufacturers began Installing player mechanisms inside the large upright t and the grand pianos. By 1904, mechanisms and rolls were developed that more effectively reproduced the special nuances of the performer. One such, the Welte-Mignon (Germany) was available in 115 brands of pianos. Many famous artists made piano roll recordings, most of which are still available today.  The popularity of reproducing pianos reached its peak In the early 1920's. After The Depression, sales never recovered due to alternatives to reproduced music that were less cumbersome and expensive, such as the gramophone and the radio. Player pianos are still manufactured today In many styles, both old fashioned and modern, large and small Some play the old style paper rolls, others use electronic media such as tape or disk.

In an effort to recover from the devastation of the Great Depression, manufacturers who remained created new styles to stimulate interest. Like the markets of the 18th Century, the mid-20th Century emphasis had to be on economy rather than quality, and appearance rather than performance. Thus, the great number In the 1930's and 1940's of varying styles of small pianos such as the "baby grand" (small horizontal piano).

The instrument originated in the early 16th century as a member of a whole family of instruments, of different sizes and with varying compasses, known as 'viole da braccio'.

The bass instrument thus acquired its modern tuning of C-G-d-a (an octave below the viola), which had been described by H. Gerle (Musica teusch, Nuremberg, 1532).

The dimensions of the cello nevertheless continued to fluctuate during the rest of the century, varying between 73 and 80 cm, with a preference for the larger model, David Tecchler was still making fine examples of the larger model in Rome in the mid-18th century, it did not arrive at the now normal length of about 69 cm until the necks of the whole violin family were lengthened during the 18th century.

Other modifications made to the violin family during the 18th century were due to changing concepts of the sound required. The neck and fingerboard were lengthened and curved more sharply, the bridge was raised, and thinner and tauter strings gave the cello a clearer and more responsive tone.

The principal factors governing the development of cello playing technique were its structural and functional membership in the violin family and the size necessitated by its compass, which inevitably led to some approximation to viol technique; the cello could only be played upright, like the viola da gamba. By the last quarter of the 17th century viol players, especially in France, had developed highly flexible and refined left-hand and bowing techniques.

At first the cello player sat with the instrument placed between his legs on the floor  or stood with it leant against his body or supported with a strap. Occasionally it was placed on a stool, and some pictures show it held in a horizontal position, perhaps to play pizzicato or merely to pose. The grip round the neck, with the fingers falling obliquely on to the strings, and the purely diatonic fingering, with four fingers filling in the intervals between the 5ths in which the instrument was tuned, both derived from violin playing. This technique was good enough for the simple demands made of the instrument in the 16th century, when the violin family occupied a musically and socially humble position, being used principally for dance music. However, as the rise of monody, thorough bass and concertante style around 1600 gave the violin an increasing importance, the cello, too, was called upon to perform a more complex role, demanding'a technique more suited to the length of its strings and the position in which it was held. The instrument was from then held without the aid of the left hand, leaving it more free to execute fast passages and changes of position, while the fingers came down on the strings vertically, making double stopping possible.

Towards 1700 it became usual for the player to place the instrument between his knees and support it with his calves, in the traditional posture of the bass viol player. This high position permitted him to draw back the neck towards himself, so that the left hand could approach the strings from the side instead of from behind and could thus reach the whole area of the fingerboard without difficulty. Since the place where the bow touched the strings (the 'point of contact') was also raised, the entire length of the bow could be used. This way of holding the cello made possible the introduction .(cl720) of the practice of using the thumb as a movable saddle in the upper registers, thus making the entire compass of the instrument more accessible. Thumb position is first described in Michel Corrette's Methode (1741).

Because of the length of its strings, the purely diatonic fingering of the violin is not at all suitable for the cello, and this fingering was changed, after a transitional, still diatonic, stage (which used the first, second and fourth, or first, second and third fingers) to a system with regular semitone intervals between one finger and the next, with the option of extending the interval between the first and second fingers to a whole tone.

There are no instruction manuals from this period (the earliest dates from the mid-18th century, and such works, being designed for amateurs, are anyway rudimentary), and the researcher is forced to base any deductions on such evidence as can be gleaned from a detailed study of the demands made by the repertory.

Until the second half of the 18th century cello bowsticks were either straight or convex, like those of the viol and the violin. The usual grip was 'overhand', with the palm of the hand turned downwards - the same grip as that used with smaller members of the violin family. Tourte fixed the length of the cello bow at 72 to 73 cm, with playing hair of 60 to 62 cm.

In Italy, where the viol had been completely replaced by the violin by the beginning of the 17th century, cello technique remained related to violin technique for an exceptionally long time; it was there that the cello first became a solo instrument.

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