Piano, guitar & saxophone, oh my!

Piano

The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by “ Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700 (the exact year is uncertain), in which ” the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material. (Modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather.) It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings.

Gear4music stock a range of pianos and keyboards from brands including Yamaha

The word piano is a shortened form of pianoforte, the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from gravicembalo col piano e forte[1] and fortepiano. The Italian musical terms piano and forte indicate "soft" and "loud" respectively,[2] in this context referring to the variations in volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist's touch or pressure on the keys.

Saxophone

The saxophone (referred to colloquially as the sax) is a woodwind instrument usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece. Although most saxophones are made from brass, they are categorized as woodwind instruments, because sound is produced by an oscillating reed, traditionally made out of woody cane, rather than lips vibrating in a mouthpiece cup as with the brass instrument family.