A piano used for a concert is tuned before each concert and sometimes during the interval
as well.
Most domestic pianos should be tuned every six months. This is not because they
suddenly go out of tune every six months but because they are gradually going out of
tune all the time and after six months this tends to become noticeable. This period of six
months is not an absolute but a guide. A new piano needs to be tuned more often initially.
UNA CORDA
The literal translation from the Italian of ‘una corda is ‘one string’. It is also the
instruction to depress the left-most pedal, which is called the una corda or soft pedal.
When the una corda pedal is down on a modern grand piano all the hammers are shifted
sideways slightly so that each hammer strikes only two strings, not all three.
Early nineteenth century Viennese pianos were arranged so that the shifting pedal could
pick out one, or two, strings of a trichord (the group of three strings all tuned to the same
pitch). This fact explains the markings by Beethoven in some of his later sonatas which
differentiate between these two possibilities. Some of the pianos had a separate pedal for
each of these two possibilities and some had a single pedal that was operated in two
different positions.
By the time of the bigger 6½ octave Viennese pianos around 1820, the geometry of the
stringband and the hammer size made it almost impossible to strike only one string and
thus achieve a true una corda sound. Eventually the extra shift pedal was dropped but the
name ‘una corda’ was kept.
UPRIGHT PIANOS
The modern piano exists in two forms: the grand piano and the upright piano. Almost
every modern piano has 88 keys (seven octaves and a minor third, from A0 to C8). Many
older pianos only have 85 keys (seven octaves from A 0 to A 8 ). Some manufacturers,
such as Blüthner, extend the range in one or both directions.
Upright pianos have the frame and the strings placed vertically, extending in both
directions from the keyboard and hammers. It is harder to produce a sensitive action on
upright pianos because the hammers move horizontally and the vertical hammer action is
dependent on springs which are prone to wear and tear. Upright pianos have the
advantage over grand pianos that they are more compact and do not need a spacious room.
URTEXT EDITIONS
An ürtext edition of a work of classical music is a printed version intended to reproduce
the original intention of the composer exactly as possible, without any added or changed
material. Other kinds of editions distinct from ürtext are facsimile and interpretative
editions.