- The piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when pressed on the keys. Most modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys: 52 white keys for the notes of the C major scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, and B) and 36 shorter black keys raised above the white keys and set further back, for sharps and flats. This means that the piano can play 88 different pitches (or “notes”), spanning a range of a bit over seven octaves. The black keys are for the “accidentals” (F♯/G♭, G♯/A♭, A♯/B♭, C♯/D♭, and D♯/E♭), which are needed to play in all twelve keys.
- Bartolomeo Cristofori (Wikipedia)
Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco (Italian pronunciation: [bartoloˈmɛːo kriˈstɔːfori di franˈtʃesko]; May 4, 1655 – January 27, 1731) was an Italian maker of musical instruments famous for inventing the piano.
- Bartolomeo Cristofori (Wikipedia)
Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco (Italian pronunciation: [bartoloˈmɛːo kriˈstɔːfori di franˈtʃesko]; May 4, 1655 – January 27, 1731) was an Italian maker of musical instruments famous for inventing the piano.
- Alioth (stars.astro.illinois.edu)
ALIOTH (Epsilon Ursae Majoris). The graceful curve of handle of the Big Dipper (the Plough in Great Britain), among the most famed of celestial sights, represents the tail of Ursa Major, the Greater Bear. Third star in from the end, “Alioth” relates not to a bear, but to a “black horse,” the name corrupted from the original and misassigned to the naked-eye companion of Mizar, which took on the vaguely similar name “Alcor.”