--- url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-pk/instrument/piano' title: Piano author: name: drupler url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-pk/user/1' date: '2023-07-03T22:36:11+00:00' updated: '2026-11-06T00:28:31+00:00' type: product summary: 'The piano, a hammered keyboard chordophone, reached India through colonial drawing rooms and became central to Hindi film music through R. D. Burman and A. R…' tags: - Chordophones - Piano image: 'https://files.kalasudha.com/styles/d12_standard/public/2025-06/Grand-Piano.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=WXoyVsmX' published: true og: site_name: KalaSudha 'image:url': 'https://files.kalasudha.com/styles/d12_standard/public/2025-06/Grand-Piano.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=WXoyVsmX' 'image:secure_url': 'https://files.kalasudha.com/styles/d12_standard/public/2025-06/Grand-Piano.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=WXoyVsmX' 'image:type': image/jpeg 'image:width': '1200' 'image:height': '675' 'image:alt': Grand-Piano --- Western instrument · Keyboard instrument # Pianoपियानो The piano is a keyboard chordophone in which felt hammers strike steel strings. Bartolomeo Cristofori invented it in Florence around 1700, and it reached India in the late 18th century. [Ask for a quote](/en-pk/form/custom-instrument-quote?instrument_id=40) [Learn the piano ](#learn) ## Buy from KalaSudha From £300 - Sold by quote or made to order - Packed for shipping and delivered worldwide - Serviced and repaired by us, wherever you bought it FamilyKeyboard instrument Keys88 (7+ octaves) ActionHammer escapement OriginItaly, about 1700 Buy from us ## Choose your piano [Ask about a custom order ](/en-pk/form/custom-instrument-quote?instrument_id=40) - Digital upright ### Digital upright piano From £300 A digital piano needs no tuning. [Ask for a quote](/en-pk/form/custom-instrument-quote?instrument_id=40) - Acoustic upright ### Acoustic upright piano £2,000 to £6,000 An upright returns its hammers by spring in a smaller cabinet. [Ask for a quote](/en-pk/form/custom-instrument-quote?instrument_id=40) - Mid-range grand ### Mid-range grand piano £10,000 or more A grand's gravity-return action repeats notes fast. [Ask for a quote](/en-pk/form/custom-instrument-quote?instrument_id=40) ### What to look for When buying a piano for Indian classical music, start with tuning: the piano locks each note to equal temperament, while a raga can shade notes away from it. A digital piano needs no tuning. An acoustic piano can be retuned note by note. In 2020, the raga pianist Utsav Lal told the Indo-Asian News Service that he retunes a few notes to find Yaman's gandhar, its third degree. On either kind, look for an action that feels even across the keyboard. Pianists suggest a meend, the glide between notes, with quick figures through the target note. KalaSudha sells digital and acoustic uprights and mid-range grands. Ask us for a quote, or for a piano made to order. ### After you buy Delivered worldwideWe pack every instrument for international shipping; ask us about cases and insurance. Service and repairWe service and repair any piano, wherever you bought it, worldwide: ask us. Strings, parts and casesAsk us for strings, spare parts and cases, and about a size for a younger learner. Help with your instrumentAsk us through the chat on any page, or by email, for help with your instrument. Gifts, schools and travelAsk us about gift vouchers, class sets for schools, and flight cases and travel help. Read the piano care guide - **Tuning:** Tune every six months at home, quarterly in studios or changeable climates, holding pitch between A439 and A441. A long-neglected piano needs several pitch-raise passes over weeks: forcing it in one session can crack the soundboard or strip tuning pins. Book the tuning with us. - **Humidity:** Keep 40–50% relative humidity at a steady temperature near 20 °C, away from vents, fires and sun. Dry air cracks the soundboard and loosens the pins, so the piano goes flat; damp swells the board and pitch rises. A Dampp-Chaser system in the cabinet steadies the soundboard, but control the room too. In India's monsoon, humidity can pass 70%. - **Keys:** Wipe key tops with a barely damp cloth and dry them at once, as moisture warps them; no chemical cleaners on ivory or synthetic tops. - **Action:** Dust in the felts slows the keys. Have us remove and vacuum the action; never blow or brush dust out with the action in place. Keep drinks off the keyboard: a spill into the keybed damages parts that are costly to replace. KalaSudha Academy ## Learn the piano with us [All courses ](/en-pk/courses) You can learn Indian classical music on the piano with KalaSudha online and in workshops, and beginners start at Foundation level. That stage covers hand position and the layout of the 88 keys. Children learn with us as well as adults, so ask us about a starting age and about an instrument size for a younger learner. Pianists coming back after a long break can start again where they left off, because our courses run in levels. Your teacher reviews where you stand first. [Ask about learning the piano](/en-pk/form/learner-enquiry?source_entity_type=node&source_entity_id=40) ### Your route, stage by stage 1. 1 Hand position & keyboard geography Beginners start here, at the Foundation level of KalaSudha's courses. Learn correct seated posture, hand arch and finger weight. Map the 88-key layout and its octaves, and build independent finger movement through five-finger exercises. 2. 2 Scales & sargam mapping Practise major and minor scales in all keys. Map the sargam, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa, onto the keys from a chosen Sa and mark the komal (flattened) and tivra (raised) notes. Learn where equal temperament departs from the shruti of Indian tuning. 3. 3 Indian raga exploration on piano Start with ragas whose notes sit well on the piano's twelve-pitch grid, such as Yaman, Bhupali and Desh. Practise aroha and avaroha, the ascent and descent, and learn how sustain, voicing and quick figures through the target pitch can suggest meend, the glide the keyboard cannot play. Listen to how Utsav Lal shapes a raga on a fixed-pitch keyboard. 4. 4 Composition & accompaniment Learn to accompany vocalists and instrumentalists with chord voicings that support the raga's melody and leave room for its glides. Study A. R. Rahman and R. D. Burman arrangements as models for film-style piano, and Anil Srinivasan's duos with Carnatic vocalist Sikkil Gurucharan to hear a pianist support a singer. 5. 5 Advanced improvisation & fusion Improvise within a raga's ascent and descent over a tabla theka. Explore fusion, pairing the piano with tabla, sitar or violin, and write short pieces that keep the raga's characteristic phrases, building a voice that joins Western harmony to Indian melodic grammar. The instrument ## About the piano ### What makes a piano ### What is a piano? The **piano** is a keyboard chordophone in which felt hammers strike steel strings, and suits your Western repertoire, film music or raga fusion. Its full name, *pianoforte*, means soft and loud, because touch sets each note's volume. A modern concert grand has **88 keys** over more than seven octaves, about 230 strings and a cast-iron plate holding up to 20 tonnes of tension. No other Western instrument gives one player so wide a range or so many shades of loud and soft. The Italian harpsichord maker Bartolomeo Cristofori invented it around 1700, replacing the harpsichord's plucking with hammers that grade the volume. A spruce soundboard carries the tone, and copper-wound bass strings and plain steel treble strings in choirs of three give the piano its bloom. A grand's gravity-return action repeats notes fast; an upright returns its hammers by spring in a smaller cabinet; a digital piano needs no tuning. A regulated action feels even across the keyboard. You can play ragas on the piano within limits. It locks each note to equal temperament, while raga lives on **shruti** (microtones) and **meend** (glides): Bhairavi's komal gandhar sits a shade below E-flat, Yaman's tivra madhyam a shade above F-sharp. Pianists run quick figures through the target note to suggest the glide; others choose ragas that suit the grid or let sustain carry the line. Anil Srinivasan, trained in Western and Carnatic music, has played with Bombay Jayashri. ### History Cristofori built the first piano at the Medici court in Florence around 1700. Its hammer struck and escaped, leaving the string free to ring while the key stayed down; that escapement drives every piano action since. Viennese makers built the light action Haydn and Mozart preferred, and English makers the heavier action Beethoven favoured. By the 19th century Steinway and Bösendorfer had built the modern cross-strung, iron-framed concert grand. In the 1800s uprights reached homes, missions and clubs in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras; mission schools trained the first Indian pianists. Indians first heard it in church and at European recitals, and until the early 20th century it stayed in European and Europhile circles, its fixed tuning of little use to classical musicians. Bombay studio orchestras took up the piano in the 1940s and 1950s. By the 1960s and 1970s S. D. Burman and R. D. Burman made it a core voice in film scores, and from the 1990s A. R. Rahman made it a centrepiece in *Roja*, *Lagaan* and *Slumdog Millionaire*, scores released worldwide. Amjad Ali Khan has worked with pianists, setting slow Hindustani alap beside Western slow movements, and Anil Srinivasan has brought the piano to Carnatic raga. How a piano is made The **soundboard** is the acoustic core: a thin panel of tight, even-grained Sitka, European or white spruce, chosen for its stiffness-to-weight ratio; low-cost pianos may use laminated boards. Ribs glued across the grain stiffen it, and a slight crown under string tension keeps it responsive; a flat board sounds thin. The bridge on top carries string energy into the wood. Strings of high-carbon steel run from hitch pins to tuning pins set in the **pin block**, hardwood plies of maple or beech glued with alternating grain. Bass strings wrap a steel core in copper, adding mass without impractical length, and take large, dense hammers. The treble has three plain strings per note, which couple through the bridge for a fast attack and a slower aftersound. A cast-iron plate absorbs up to 20 tonnes of tension. Each **hammer** carries layers of pressed wool felt, firm at the core and softer at the surface: harder felt sounds brighter, softer felt sings. Technicians voice it by needling or hardening the felt, and regulate the action, thousands of levers, springs and cloth-covered wooden parts, so every hammer travels, releases and rebounds alike. ### At a glance ClassificationChordophone: keyboard instrument Key range88 keys (7+ octaves) String systemWound copper bass strings; plain steel treble strings in groups of three Action typeHammer escapement action (grand or upright) Key figures in IndiaS. D. Burman, R. D. Burman, A. R. Rahman, Anil Srinivasan and Utsav Lal Primary Indian contextsHindi film music, Carnatic fusion, Hindustani fusion, contemporary composition Full specifications #### Physical dimensions Grand piano length1,500mm (baby grand) to 2,750mm (concert grand) Upright piano height900mm–1,300mm Grand piano width~1,500mm Grand piano weight250kg–600kg Key count88 (standard); some models have 85 #### String & soundboard system Total string count~230 strings Total string tensionUp to 20 tonnes (combined) Bass string materialCopper-wound steel core Treble string materialPlain high-carbon steel Strings per treble note3 (unison choir) Soundboard materialSitka, European or white spruce #### Hammer & action mechanism Hammer coveringPressed wool felt (graded density, firm core to soft surface) Grand action typeGravity-return escapement (enables rapid note repetition) Upright action typeSpring-return (slower repetition; smaller cabinet) Action parts per note~80 individual components RegulationPeriodic service required for even touch across all 88 keys #### Pedal system Sustain pedal (right)Lifts all dampers; strings ring freely Sostenuto pedal (middle, grand)Sustains only notes held at moment of depression Soft pedal (left)Una corda (shifts hammers) in grand; moves hammers closer to strings in upright Pedal count3 (concert grand); 2 (some uprights, omitting sostenuto) #### Acoustic characteristics Frequency range~27.5 Hz (A0) to ~4,186 Hz (C8) Dynamic rangeppp to fff (approximately 40dB–100dB) Sustain3–30 seconds depending on register and pedal use Tuning systemEqual temperament (12 equal semitones per octave), with slightly stretched octaves Tonal characterRich harmonic spectrum; treble unison choir produces characteristic bloom Explore the music ## Hear the piano Hear KalaSudha's [recordings](/en-pk/releases) and [concert videos](/en-pk/videos). ### Recordings to start with - [ Raag Bhairav \| Rekesh Chauhan & Shahbaz Hussain \| Live \| The Duke’s Hall Rekesh Chauhan, Shahbaz Hussain 5:10 ](/en-pk/video/raag-bhairav-rekesh-chauhan-shahbaz-hussain-live-the-dukes-hall) - [ Raag Kirwani \| Deepak Shah \| Piano \| Reading \| Kala Festival 2025 Deepak Shah, Hanif Khan 15:02 ](/en-pk/video/raag-kirwani-deepak-shah-piano-reading-kala-festival-2025) - [ Yaad Piya Ki Aaye \| Ajay Prasanna \| London Raga Fusion \| Flute, Piano, Tabla & Ghatam \| KalaSudha Ajay Prasanna, Shahbaz Hussain, Rekesh Chauhan, R. N. Prakash 12:32 ](/en-pk/video/yaad-piya-ki-aaye-ajay-prasanna-london-raga-fusion-flute-piano-tabla-ghatam-kalasudha) - [ Raag Yaman – Alaap on Piano \| Deepak Shah \| Kala Festival 2025, Norwich Deepak Shah 13:35 ](/en-pk/video/raag-yaman-alaap-on-piano-deepak-shah-kala-festival-2025-norwich) - [ Raag Bhairavi \| Trinity Trio \| Live at Kala Festival 2025, Cambridge Debasis Chakroborty, Deepak Shah, Akram Khan 10:24 ](/en-pk/video/raag-bhairavi-trinity-trio-live-at-kala-festival-2025-cambridge) - [ Raag Desh \| Music for Harmony & Peace \| Kala Festival 2023 \| KalaSudha \| The Bhavan London Debasis Chakroborty, Deepak Shah, Dr Lovely Sharma, Durjay Bhaumik 10:02 ](/en-pk/video/raag-desh-music-for-harmony-peace-kala-festival-2023-kalasudha-the-bhavan-london) ### Players - [ Rekesh Chauhan Artist ](/en-pk/artist/rekesh-chauhan) - [ Raymond Yiu Artist ](/en-pk/artist/raymond-yiu) - [ Deepak Shah Raga Pianist ](/en-pk/artist/deepak-shah) Ask us to book a piano player for a concert, event or recording. [Book a piano player ](/en-pk/book-indian-classical-musicians) Keep exploring ## More around the piano - [ Discipline Piano Hindustani ragas on fixed keys that cannot glide between notes ](/en-pk/instrumental/hindustani-classical/piano) Questions ## Piano: common questions Buying, learning, care and the instrument itself. ### How do I start learning Indian classical music on the piano? You can learn Indian classical music on the [piano](/en-pk/instrumental/hindustani-classical/piano) with KalaSudha online and in workshops, and beginners start at **Foundation** level. That stage covers hand position and the layout of the 88 keys. Children learn with us as well as adults, so ask us about a starting age and about an instrument size for a younger learner. Pianists coming back after a long break can start again where they left off, because our [courses](/en-pk/courses) run in levels. Your teacher reviews where you stand first. ### Is Hindustani music tuned like the piano? Hindustani music is closer to the **[piano](/en-pk/instrument/piano)**'s equal temperament than many assume. A quantitative study of sung performances found that Hindustani tuning mixes equal-tempered and just intervals, with substantial equal-tempered influence, while Carnatic tuning sits close to 5-limit just intonation. The same study found no strong evidence that the 22 shrutis are used as distinct pitches. The harmonium, the usual accompanying keyboard of Hindustani music, sounds each reed for as long as a key is held and the bellows push air through it, so it can sustain a sung line. On the piano a felt hammer strikes a steel string. Both have fixed, equal-tempered keys, so neither can glide between notes as a singer does. ### How often should a piano be tuned? The Piano Technicians Guild advises tuning a **[piano](/en-pk/instrument/piano)** often enough to hold its pitch between A439 and A441. It recommends stable conditions, around 20°C and 42% relative humidity, away from vents, fires and direct sun. Regulation of the action is a separate job: it adjusts the parts to compensate for felt compression and wood movement so the touch stays even. ### Who invented the piano? Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655 to 1731) invented the **[piano](/en-pk/instrument/piano)** while employed at the Medici court in Florence. A Medici inventory of 1700 describes his new arpicembalo that makes soft and loud. His key invention was the escapement, which lets the hammer fall away from the string after striking so the string can vibrate. His 1720 piano in the Metropolitan Museum is the oldest surviving piano. ### What humidity is best for a piano? The Piano Technicians Guild recommends keeping a **[piano](/en-pk/instrument/piano)** in stable conditions of about 20°C and 42% relative humidity. Keep it away from vents, fires and direct sun. A piano's humidity history, along with the condition of its soundboard, pinblock and action, drives restoration costs, so have us inspect a used piano before purchase. ### When did the piano arrive in India? London music retailers were exporting **[piano](/en-pk/instrument/piano)s** to British Calcutta in the late 18th century, and the pianoforte replaced the harpsichord in Anglo-Indian homes in that period. Humid tropical conditions damaged keyboard instruments in British India. Between about 1840 and 1910, firms in India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar produced tropical pianos built to withstand heat, insects and humidity. Pianists who play Indian classical music today include Utsav Lal, Anil Srinivasan, who has brought the piano to Carnatic raga, and the raga pianist [Deepak Shah](/en-pk/artist/deepak-shah). ### What should I check before buying a used piano? Have us inspect a used acoustic **[piano](/en-pk/instrument/piano)** before you buy. The condition of the soundboard, pinblock and action, and the piano's humidity history, drive the cost of any restoration. The Piano Technicians Guild recommends stable conditions around 20°C and 42% relative humidity, away from vents, fires and direct sun. ### What should I look for when buying a piano for Indian classical music? When buying a piano for Indian classical music, start with tuning: the piano locks each note to equal temperament, while a raga can shade notes away from it. A digital piano needs no tuning. An acoustic piano can be retuned note by note. In 2020, the raga pianist Utsav Lal told the Indo-Asian News Service that he retunes a few notes to find Yaman's gandhar, its third degree. On either kind, look for an action that feels even across the keyboard. Pianists suggest a meend, the glide between notes, with quick figures through the target note. KalaSudha sells digital and acoustic uprights and mid-range grands. Ask us for a quote, or for a piano made to order. ### Where can I buy a piano for Indian classical music? You can buy a piano for Indian classical music from KalaSudha, by quote or made to order, and we deliver worldwide. We pack every instrument for international shipping, so ask us about cases and insurance before it travels. We service and repair any piano in any country, wherever you bought it: ask us. We also supply strings and spare parts. After the sale, help comes through the chat on any page or by email to . Ask us as well about gift vouchers and class sets for schools, or a flight case if your instrument travels with you. ### What is a good gift for someone learning an Indian classical instrument? A good gift for someone learning an Indian classical instrument suits the instrument they play and the stage they have reached, so ask their teacher if you are unsure. An instrument of their own, or a better one, also makes a gift: KalaSudha sells every instrument by quote or made to order. For something smaller, ask us for a case, or for strings and spare parts to suit their instrument. Lessons make a gift as well. KalaSudha teaches online and in workshops, and beginners start at Foundation level: see our [courses](/en-pk/courses). Ask us about gift vouchers. ### Can I book an Indian classical pianist for a concert, event or recording? You can book an Indian classical pianist through KalaSudha for a concert, event or recording. Tell us what you are planning through our page to [book Indian classical musicians](/en-pk/book-indian-classical-musicians). To hear our artists first, try KalaSudha's [recordings](/en-pk/releases) and [concert videos](/en-pk/videos). ### Who plays Indian classical music on the piano? Pianists who play Indian classical music include Anil Srinivasan, who grew up with Carnatic music and studied Western classical **piano**, and the raga pianist Utsav Lal. Amjad Ali Khan has worked with pianists, setting slow Hindustani alap beside Western slow movements. In film music, S. D. Burman and R. D. Burman made the piano a core voice by the 1960s and 1970s, and A. R. Rahman made it a centrepiece from the 1990s. ### Can a piano play the microtones of Indian classical music? Not exactly: a **piano** locks each note to equal temperament, while a raga can shade a note away from it. Bhairavi's komal gandhar sits a shade below E-flat, and Yaman's tivra madhyam a shade above F-sharp. Pianists still play ragas within those limits. Some choose ragas that suit the fixed grid, and others let the piano's sustain carry the line. ### What is the difference between playing Indian classical music on the piano and on the harmonium? Both keyboards fix each note to equal temperament, while a raga can shade notes and glide between them. A **harmonium** reed sounds for as long as the key is held and air flows, a steady tone that blends with the voice. That is why the harmonium became the default accompanist of Hindustani singing. A **piano** note is struck, and touch sets its volume. In India the piano's main settings are Hindi film music, Carnatic and Hindustani fusion and contemporary composition. ### Still have questions? Our support team can help you find the right answer. [Contact support](/en-pk/form/learner-enquiry?source_entity_type=node&source_entity_id=40) Talk to us ## Tell us about the piano you want Ask for a quote on an instrument made to order, or about learning to play it with our teachers. [Ask for a quote](/en-pk/form/custom-instrument-quote?instrument_id=40) [Ask about learning](/en-pk/form/learner-enquiry?source_entity_type=node&source_entity_id=40) Stay close ## Keep KalaSudha close. Receive news of concerts, learning opportunities, recordings and the work taking shape at KalaSudha. - Concert news - ·Learning opportunities - ·Recordings and stories We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at any time. Buy a piano from KalaSudha [Ask for a quote](/en-pk/form/custom-instrument-quote?instrument_id=40)