Many children start playing the piano when young, but it's a hulking great piece of equipment that certainly wouldn’t fit easily into modern homes, yet it's still considered an ideal starter instrument because of the visual layout of the keys. It enables early musical success and keeps youngsters motivated once they can master one simple tune. Parents are keen for them to take lessons to boost their child's brain development and perhaps encourage a lifelong appreciation of music.

In Victorian times, having a piano was a status symbol, an emblem of wealth during the rise of prosperity in the middle classes. Being an accomplished player was a gauge of a woman's training in the required capabilities of life and a significant asset to a young lady's eligibility in the marriage stakes, being regarded as the most appropriate instrument for female musicians.

There was a difference between the instruments that boys and girls played. The boys played robustly on trumpets or drums, while the girls were more ladylike, playing small, quietly plucked string instruments. The boys’ instruments were loud and strong, while the girls' were weak and muted.

The history of the piano keyboard dates back to the first hammered, piano-like instruments, such as dulcimers, used since the Middle Ages in Europe. The first keyboard instrument used in music was the organ, most often found in churches. But it wasn’t until the 1700’s that the piano was perfected by an Italian, Bartolomeo Cristofori, who was an expert harpsichord maker from Padua, employed by the Medici family. He wanted something capable of producing varying volumes, which led to the development of the gravicembalo col piano, e forte (harpsichord with soft and loud). The harpsichord has origins dating back to the late 14th century and produces a delicate sound, played with articulated fingers while the arms are relaxed and curved to pluck the strings. Cristofori wanted to allow musicians to vary note volume from soft to loud, and thus perfected the hammer system to give players greater control by varying how vigorously they struck the keys. The piano began to replace the harpsichord, and by the 19th century, the harpsichord had largely lost popularity. However, it is still constructed and played today, particularly for the rendition of 18th-century music.

Credits: Unsplash; Author: Markus Gjengaar;

Getting back to the ebony and ivory thing

The earliest pianos often used wood for the keys, which were ‘veneered’ with ivory for the white keys and ebony for the black, because not only were they durable, but at the time, showed luxury status. Ivory, from elephant tusks, was chosen for its porous, sweat-absorbing texture that offered pianists a better grip, while dense, hard ebony for black keys was ideal for withstanding heavy, consistent wear. Pianos come in many shapes and sizes, from the large ‘grand’ pianos, with horizontal strings, to others that are upright with vertical strings.

Nowadays, collecting, trading, and owning ivory is heavily restricted - not only from elephants - but also from walruses, narwhals, hippopotamuses, sperm whales, warthogs, and fossilised mammoths, but antique ivory can be collected if it is documented, registered, or antique, particularly if it is part of a musical instrument.

Ebony is also threatened – it is a hard, black wood, derived from the heartwood of slow-growing trees of the genus Diospyros. Because it takes 60–200 years to mature, and due to high demand for furniture, musical instruments and carvings, many ebony species are now considered endangered.

Modern pianos use plastic, high-quality synthetic resins or composite materials for the keys rather than elephant ivory and ebony nowadays. Pianos built before the 1950s often have traditional keys, and while some players enjoy the feel of vintage instruments, they can be hard to maintain, as ivory in particular can crack, warp, and yellow.

But ‘tinkling the ivories’ still has a nice ring about it – and ‘tinkling the plastics’ doesn’t quite sound the same!