The average medium sized piano has about 230 strings, each string having about 165 pounds of tension, with the combined pull of all strings equaling approximately eighteen tons.

 

There are approximately 10,000 parts in an average upright piano.

 

Even though the plate on a piano is made of cast iron, can weigh as much as 500 pounds, and can withstand enormous pressure, it is very fragile and can crack or break easily.

 

The oldest piano still in existence was built in 1720.

 

Mozart once composed a piano piece that required a player to use two hands and a nose in order to hit all the correct notes.

 

The viola organista was a musical instrument invented by Leonardo da Vinci. It was the first bowed keyboard instrument on record. One would press keys to lower the strings onto a rotating bow to play it.

 

Each American president has had a personal piano, with the exception of Gerald Ford and George Bush.

 

"The Chipmunks," Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, were named after executives at Liberty Records by their creator, Ross Bagdasarian, who used the stage name David Seville.

 

An example of a major sixth interval is heard in the first two notes of the television network NBC's theme, "N-B-C."

 

The term "riff," a short, catchy musical idea, entered musical slang in the 1920s. It is used primarily in discussing forms of rock music or jazz.

 

The ratio of frequencies between two notes an octave apart is 2:1. If you take a note with a frequency of 400 Hz, the frequency of the note one octave above is 800 Hz, while one octave below it is 200 Hz.

 

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