About Pianos
These are known as "Giraffe Pianos"
This is an interesting period in the development on the modern day vertical/wall piano. And you may have not thought of playing piano as a risky endeavor but I can tell you that if you owned one of these you better be nimble enough to hop out of the way should it tip over.
A full size grand piano can weight over 1,000 pounds, so don't feel bad if you need to seek assistance when moving it from one dwelling to another. In fact, I suggest you intentionally go out of your way to hire piano movers. It would be a shame if you permanently injured a piano during move and have no one to blame except yourself and your incredibly tight wallet (especially if the piano is worth several thousands or tens of thousands of dollars!).
Although the importance of hiring a professional piano mover is not the focus of this article, it is relevant to the subject of the Giraffe Piano because moving a piano properly requires an understanding of piano design and construction.
Below are pictures of a grand piano and a vertical piano
As you might have already guessed, if you wanted to move both of these pianos then you would have a different approach for the vertical piano than for the grand piano. This is simply due to the general design, size, shape, and construction of the instruments.
For example, if the legs on the wall piano are not removable then the whole piano will probably stay in one piece and be properly strapped to the inside of a suitable box truck. However this idea would not work so well for the grand piano would it? If you were to attempt moving the grand piano like the wall piano, then the legs will likely be harmed or broken. If the legs broke during transport this would cause catastrophic and possibly irreparable damage to the entire instrument (there are only 3 legs, one gone would make one whole side of the piano tip over). Keep in mind that modern pianos can have more than 40,000 pounds of cumulative tension on the strings!
Most of us just accept the reality that there are two kinds of analog pianos that people are aware of and stop there but Lets think about this for a minute and make a few observations...
The grand piano (left):
More horizontal than vertical, the majority of the instrument is made of wood, tripod of legs for stabilization, the lid is often seen open, the lid is help up by a single stick, there are foot pedals, it looks expensive, it has a funny harp shaped body, there are 88 keys.
The vertical/wall piano (right):
More width than height, more height than depth, the majority of the instrument is made of wood, it has two legs in front and the back is a flat edge for stabilization, the top is often seen closed, there are foot pedals, it looks less expensive than the grand piano (this depends/varies heavily on history, brand, and model), it it pretty much square on all sides, there are 88 keys.
image from: libertyparkmusic.com
WHY are they so different?
There are many reasons why a person may purchase a grand piano over a wall piano and vice versa, but that's not the heart of the question I am asking. My question is directed at the evolutionary events that split their family tree to arrive at these two predominate forms we see today. A quick glance at their major components you can tell they were derived from the same ancestor... so why are they so different now?
A Brief History: In the beginning
A builder and expert of the harpsichord named Bartolomo Cristofori created some of the first Pianos toward the end of the 1600s. By this time in human history the harpsichord (which is a plectrum instrument) had been around for hundreds of years.
The invention of the piano introduced a hammering action to keyboard instruments and was well received since it had more expression and volume than previous instruments and thus voiced itself well for concert performances.
There were major modifications from inception to the late 1800s such as foot pedals, extra octaves, iron frame, and other general improvements. There was also some experimentation and disagreement as to the prime location to strike a piano string with a hammer. As it turned out the piano makers at the time generally placed the hammer striking location toward the end of the string (just thought I’d mention that there is a TON of technical information on how to strike a piano string).
This is an actual piano built by Bartolomo dated 1720
image from: metmuseum.org
Square Piano
image from: metmuseum.org
One Piano to Rule Them All
For about a 50 years the grand piano dominated the piano landscape unopposed. As the size, price, and popularity of the grand piano began to increase so did the demand for a more affordable and compact piano. In the late 1770s the "square piano" (pictured below) was the product of these social and musical atmospheric conditions. It was actually a rectangle and varied in size but generally they took up less space, had fewer keys, and were less expensive to build/buy than a grand piano.
The main engineering puzzles to solve with the square piano was the position of the keys, distance and angle to their corresponding stings. These challenges initially reduced the number of keys, desired timbre, and playability for the square piano. It is good to note that over the next hundred years innovations to the square piano overcame these limitations but by that time another piano had swooped in and eaten the square piano's lunch.
One of the innovative, imaginative, and truly ambitious designs for a compact piano was the "Giraffe Piano".
In concept the idea was simple, instead of relocating the keyboard to the side (an engineeringly-inconvenient spot), just take the stings and angle them vertically to maintain the location of the keyboard in relation to the strings and retain the hammers' “preferred” striking location.
There were three major aesthetic variations of this concept, the cabinet piano (left), the pyramid piano (center), and the giraffe piano (right). The instrument’s construction was pretty much the same just the superficial look of it was the reason for the different names.
Giraffe Piano Action
A giraffe piano worked much like a modern day vertical piano. Though the striking location may have been essentially the same, the strings were now vertical. Vertical strings meant the hammers had to flip from being underneath the strings (now the back of the piano) to the top of the strings (now the front of the piano). And due to the complex mechanics of the grand piano keyboard components this resulted in a slightly different playable "action".
The "action" of a piano refers to the quality/functionality of the mechanical movements of the keys. Action focuses on the first movement of the key by fingertip to hammer-strike and back to the original resting position. In a grand piano the stings are set horizontally, because of this the hammers that strike the stings are also horizontal. Gravity is used effectively in the keyboard mechanics to provide an intuitive striking action and a reliable resetting action. Since gravity is applied equally to the entire piano this is true across the keys from low-end to high-end. In a wall piano the corresponding keyboard mechanisms are vertical, and as such are not as effective employing gravity.
One important factor when assessing a piano's action, is the speed that each key can be repeated. In a grand piano, once the hammer hits a string the components only need to return part of the way back to the resting position before it can be stuck again. With a vertical piano, the components may need to return farther the back to the resting position before the note can be played again. This means that a grand piano can be played faster than a vertical piano... but you would need to be an exceptional pianist to reach the limits of a quality vertical piano.
-- There is so much more I want to say on this topic but I have not had the free time to complete this page, please come back in a couple days, I may have more published by then. Thank you for your patience and understanding. --