piano
A standard piano has 52 white keys and 36 black keys. This topic is part of Musical Instruments within Music. This page currently draws on 47 supporting questions, with answers and bonus facts available below.
piano trivia questions
How many keys does a standard modern piano usually have?
Answer: 88
Bonus fact: A standard piano has 52 white keys and 36 black keys.
How are sounds produced inside an acoustic piano?
Answer: Hammers strike strings
Bonus fact: Keys trigger felt-covered hammers that strike strings.
What are the three pedals on a typical grand piano used to control?
Answer: Soft, sostenuto, and sustain effects
Bonus fact: Grand pianos commonly have soft, sostenuto, and sustain pedals.
Which composer is strongly associated with Romantic piano music?
Answer: Frédéric Chopin
Bonus fact: Chopin wrote extensively for solo piano.
How many white keys are on a standard 88-key piano?
Answer: 52
Bonus fact: White keys represent the natural notes.
How many black keys are in one repeating octave pattern on a piano?
Answer: Five
Bonus fact: The black keys occur in groups of two and three.
Unlike a piano, a traditional harpsichord has limited ability to vary volume through what?
Answer: Key pressure
Bonus fact: The plucking mechanism produces nearly the same attack regardless of touch.
Who wrote The Piano Lesson?
Answer: August Wilson
Bonus fact: The play premiered in 1987.
What family object is central to The Piano Lesson?
Answer: Piano
Bonus fact: The piano carries carvings tied to family history.
The Piano Lesson won which major award?
Answer: Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Bonus fact: Wilson won the Pulitzer in 1990.
In what year was the oldest surviving piano by Bartolomeo Cristofori made?
Answer: 1720
Bonus fact: The Metropolitan Museum of Art says three pianos from Cristofori's workshop survive.
Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57, Appassionata is a work by which composer?
Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Bonus fact: Carnegie Hall’s Data Lab ranks this work No. 9 in its historical list, with 294 recorded performances.