ie 126). Ludwig van Beethoven was the king of pianists in his time. Beethoven wanted the piano to sound like a whole orchestrainstead of just one instrument. Beethoven was accustomed tostandard five-octave pianos, but in 1818, he received asix-octave grand piano from the Broadwood Piano Company (Bie139). Excited with this new style and extra octave, Beethovenwrote his last three sonatas for the six-octave. Beethoven,however, was deaf by 1818, loved his Broadwood because he couldmore feel the music than hear it. Since Beethoven favoredBroadwood, so did the rest of the musical community. TheBroadwood Grand continued to be a very popular model through the1850’s (140).By 1853, the United States had become part of the pianoscene, producing pianos such as the upright and the Chickering,but perhaps the most important piano-makers in America in thenineteenth century are Steinway and Sons. As German natives,these men came to America to flee the German government, andfound their calling in the piano-making business (Welton). Usingthe same frames as older pianos, the Steinways’ piano modelsremained in style for a time, but the showstopper came out in1855, when the Steinways introduced their own homemade ironframe. This frame was “that of the grand piano, which became theprimary concert piano in America by 1900” (Grover 98). In the early 1900s, pianos began to be “the primary vocalaccompanying instrument” (Barrie 3). With the Big Band Era andthe Swing Era between the 1920s and 1940s, the piano continued tobe a major part of all music. The mellow sounds of 1950s lovesongs gave listeners soothing chords, while 50’s rock and rollproduced amazing sounds and playful piano pieces (5). As discobegan to sweep over America, musical engineers created newelectrical instruments, including pianos. These new pianos couldbe programmed to play not only as a piano, but also as a flute, aclarinet, an organ, or even...
