Im a trombone player...i know nothing about piano. But i have a question that if i dont get answered it will bug me. What is a piano? Is it a percussion or a strings instrument? I mean, precussion instruments hit stuff, piano has hammers...and string instruments have strings, so does piano. So does anyone knbow what a piano is?

The piano is a cross between a string instrument, a percussion instrument, and a keyboard instrument. It is mostly accepted as a keyboard instrument.

piano is actually considered a string instrument by most people

yes..it is considered a keyboard and a stringed instrument

i am confused.......im am confused.......so which is it?

it is considered actually a keyboard in most books..which actually in my opinion it is the best category for the piano..but it is also a stringed instrument as well..

A piano is a percussion instrument Anyting that is hit is defined as percussion.

yes i agree...the mallets play a very big role..but its so hard to decipher..i mean..u have strings as well..and the pitch is based on the tightness or how loose the strings is...but if theres a very specific category of "keyboard"..it should go under that..i mean..that is what it is in the longrun

I`ll tell ya something extra stupid... my teacher said that it`s classsified professionaly as a woodwind instrument!

LOL

hmmm a woodwind instrument eh.... well im a sax player and my saxophone is a woodwind instrument because it has a wooden reed and it gives out wind, a lot of the ancient organs were classed as woodwind tho. The hammers in a piano being hit would put it in the percussion, although if you take the front off of a piano and look at the strings it is actually just like a harp turned around and about. Maybe it is one of those tings that is hard to define hence the confusion. so it can be whatever you want it to be, just play. btw piano actually means quiet in ancient latin dunno how relevant that is but food for thought.

I should say it`s a "hammered string" intrument, in opposition to "pinched string" like guitar or "rubbed string" like the viola... But in any case definitely inside the group of string instruments. I don`t know if there`s much point in counting "keyboard intruments" as an independent group, seeing that the rest of the groups is called by what actually makes the sound, what vibrates to produce the sound, not the mecanisms used. For instance, if I was to call the piano a "keyboard instrument" I might just as well call a sax a "key instrument", a trumpet a "valve instrument" or a cello a "bow instrument"... I don`t know, it`s just an idea...

u do have a point...but im still not quite so sure

A piano is a Percussion Instrument! I have been playing piano for 5 years and percussion( tenors , mallets) for 4 almost 5 years. It considered a percussion instrument. if you take a mallet piece and put it next to a piano piece you can play both on either instrument. my all state mallet piece was played on the piano with one hand so it is very much a percussion instrument!

I remember having to write an essay in sixth grade about this. I chose the minority report edge and said that claviers should be classified as their own section.

As for what piano means:
The actual name for a piano is a Piano-Forte, which roughly translated means softly-loudly. As years have gone by, we have just shortened it to Piano (which by itself does mean `softly`). To some extend, yes, it is Latin. But, moreso it is Italian (as are most musical terms)- which derives much of its language from its Roman ancesters (who spoke Latin). The reason why it is called such an oxymoronic name is because of the piano`s diverse ability to play both softly and loudly.

It`s all a little foggy.... I learned this YEARS ago.

Anyway.

Cheers,
Jon Dwight