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What Is A Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played using a keyboard. There are three main types of pianos: the grand piano, which has horizontal strings extending away from the keyboard; the electric piano, which simulates piano sounds electronically without actual strings; and the upright piano, which has a vertical body with strings running vertically. The document also provides biographies of three famous Jamaican pianists - Monty Alexander, Gladstone Anderson, and Jackie Mittoo - noting their musical styles and some of their famous songs.

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Tangqin Wright
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111 views6 pages

What Is A Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played using a keyboard. There are three main types of pianos: the grand piano, which has horizontal strings extending away from the keyboard; the electric piano, which simulates piano sounds electronically without actual strings; and the upright piano, which has a vertical body with strings running vertically. The document also provides biographies of three famous Jamaican pianists - Monty Alexander, Gladstone Anderson, and Jackie Mittoo - noting their musical styles and some of their famous songs.

Uploaded by

Tangqin Wright
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is a Piano?

The piano is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that
the performer presses down with the fingers of both hands. There are many different
types of pianos, but i will only list three and give information on each.
The three types are as follows:
Grand Piano
Electric Piano
Upright Piano

Three types of Pianos


Grand Piano
In grand pianos, the frame and strings are horizontal, with the strings extending away
from the keyboard. The action lies beneath the strings, and uses gravity as its means of
return to a state of rest.

Electric Piano
The first electric pianos from the late 1920s used metal strings with a magnetic pickup, an
amplifier and a loudspeaker. Electric pianos are non-acoustic; they do not have strings,
tines or hammers, but are a type of synthesizer that simulates or imitates piano sounds
using oscillators that synthesize the sound of an acoustic piano.
Upright Piano
A piano with an upright
rectangular body and with
its
strings
running
vertically.Upright pianos,

also called vertical pianos, are more compact because the frame and strings are vertical.
Upright pianos with unusually tall frames and long strings are sometimes called upright
grand pianos.

Three Famous Jamaican Pianists with biography


Monty Alexander
Monty Alexander is a jazz pianist, who also sings and plays the melodica. His playing has
a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop and
soulful blues melodies. He was born June 6, 1944. Alexander discovered the piano when
he was four years old, took classical music lessons at the age of six and became interested
in jazz piano at the age of 14, and began playing in clubs, and on recording sessions by
Clue J & His Blues Blasters, deputizing for Aubrey Adams, Two years later, he directed a
dance orchestra called Monty and the Cyclones and played in the local clubs. Some songs
sung by Monty are:
Jamento 1978
Caribbean Circle 1992
In the year 2000 Monty won the Gold Musgrave Medal from the institute of Jamaica. He

also won an Independent Music Awards at Harlem Kingston Express Live! For the best
live performance album.

Gladstone Anderson
Gladstone Anderson was born on June 18,1934 in Jones Town, and was taught piano at
home by his uncle, the keyboardist and bandleader Aubrey Adams. He became a
prominent studio pianist in the late 1950s, when he began working for Duke Reid.He
worked at Reid's Treasure Isle studio, generally replacing Jackie Mittoo when The
Skatalites recorded there. Some of the dongs sung by Anderson are:
Just like a river 1997
Make Good 2003
Pretty Cottage 2003
Unfortunately Anderson passed away in December 3, 2015.

Jackie Mittoo
He was born Donat Roy Mittoo in Brown's Town, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, and began
learning to play the piano when he was three under the tutelage of his grandmother.Some
of the songs sung by Mittoo are:
Totally Together 1970
Evening Time 1968

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