Dictionary of Music - Birding America

310 Phrygianpitch, just as a play or poem would become merely aseries of words.Phrygian (frij′ē ən). 1 The authentic modebeginning on E. See under CHURCH MODES. 2 ForPhrygian cadence, see under CADENCE.piacere, a (ä pyä cher′e) Italian. A direction forperformers to execute a passage as they please, particularlyas to tempo. See also AD LIBITUM.piacevole (pyä che′vô le) Italian. A direction toperform in a smooth, graceful manner.fig. 179 p/u from p. 321note, two strings for each note of medium range, andone string for each bass note). At the same time, afelt-covered damper is lifted from those strings,allowing them to vibrate (and therefore sound) whenpiangendo (pyän jen′dô) Italian. Also, piangevole(pyän je′vô le). A direction to perform in amournful, plaintive manner.piangevoleSee PIANGENDO.pianissimo (pyä′nēs′sē mô′′) Italian. A directionto perform very softly (see PIANO, def. 1). It is generallyabbreviated pp, and sometimes ppp.piano (pyä′nô). 1 An Italian term used as a directionto perform softly. It is generally abbreviated p.2 (pya′nō). A keyboard instrument in which thekeys make hammers strike strings, causing them tosound. Its name is an abbreviation of its originalname, pianoforte, Italian for “soft-loud,” whichrefers to the fact that the player can produce softer orlouder tones by varying the touch (finger pressure)on the keys. This feature is not present in either theharpsichord or the clavichord, two earlier keyboardinstruments that the piano replaced in importance.Today the piano is by far the most popular acoustickeyboard instrument, and was long the one instrumentmost used in homes, at least in Europe andAmerica.The piano has a range larger than any conventionalinstrument except the organ, either exactlyseven octaves (from A to A) or seven octaves and athird (A to C). Each note is controlled by a singlekey, and there are eighty-eight keys in all. When theplayer presses a key, a felt-covered hammer isthrown against the string or strings for that particularpitch (there usually are three strings for each highfig. 180 p/u from p. 321the hammer strikes them. The hammer must quicklybounce away from the strings, however, so that itdoes not interfere with their vibration. When the keyis released, the dampers fall back on the strings ofthat key, silencing them. The hammers are connectedto the keyboard by a system of levers calledthe action. To make sure that the hammer does notbounce back onto a string after having struck it, adevice called the escapement moves aside the levernearest the hammer so that it falls back far enoughnot to bounce back; in addition, another devicecalled the check catches the hammer as it falls.However, if the hammer must fall back far from thestring, to avoid rebounding against it, it cannotbounce back quickly enough to allow for repeatingthe same note quickly. To solve this problem, modernpianos have a double escapement, which makesthe hammer fall back twice, once to a middle positionand a second time to a position still farther awayfrom the strings. If the same note is to be quickly