Trivia:Why Can't There Be More Than 88 Keys On A Piano?

Musical Instrument Guide Trivia Why Can't There Be More Than 88 Keys on a Piano?

The piano that Bartolomeo Cristofori first invented in Italy had only 54 keys. As piano music developed and evolved, the keyboard compass was gradually expanded in response to requests from composers who sought a broader potential for expression. By the 1890s, today's modern keyboard had become established with 88 keys spanning 7¼ octaves (from 2A to C5; 27.5 Hz to 4,186 Hz*). The human ear can hear sounds in the range from approximately 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, but the upper limit of frequencies that the human brain can discriminate is at the very most around 4,000 Hz. Even if the compass were to be expanded by increasing the number of keys on the piano, to the human ear, the extra notes at the bass end would become nothing more than a rumbling noise, and the added treble notes would be heard as an unpleasant dissonant noise with no sense of being in a tonal range, and thus, musically, would be almost meaningless. Boesendorfer is making 97-key pianos with nine additional keys in the bass segment of the keyboard (2C to C5). However, the strings for these nine keys in the lowest bass segment are really only there to provide a richer sound when other keys are played by resonating with them. In reality, the extra keys themselves are almost never played directly.

* When A is tuned to 440 Hz. The pitch of the individual keys will vary depending on the tuning method.

Musical Instrument Guide : Piano Contents

Origins

• The Story of the Piano's Invention
• Great Composers Who Followed the Advances of the Piano
• From Made-by-Hand to Industrial Manufacturing

Structure

• Let's Learn the Names of Parts
• The Sound-Producing Mechanism
• What is a Piano's "Action"?
• Design of the Strings Enriches the Sound
• [Experiment1] Changing the Material of the Hammers
• [Experiment2] Blocking the Holes in the Metal Frame

How to Play

• Now, Let's Play Some Notes!
• Correct Posture When Playing the Piano

How the Instrument is Made

• Making the Body
• Making the Keyboard and Action
• Stringing and Mounting the Keyboard and Action
• Mounting the Dampers, Installing the Lid, and Resting
• More Adjustments and Then Finishing

Choosing an Instrument

• Grand or Upright?
• Acoustic or Digital?
• Tips for Soundproofing

Care and Maintenance

• Care You Can Do at Home
• Tuning Once a Year

Trivia

• The White Keys and Black Keys Were Reversed on Pianos in Mozart's Day
• Did Mozart's Piano Have a Pedal-Board?
• Piano with Automatic Accompaniment System in Beethoven's Day
• The Pianos Beloved by the Great Master, Sviatoslav Richter
• The Optimal Material for Piano Frames Is Also Ideal for Motorcycle Engines
• The Piano Soundboard Is a Board that Also Stops Vibrations
• Why Can't There Be More Than 88 Keys on a Piano?
• Why a Grand Piano Keyboard Feels Heavier Than an Upright Keyboard?

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