Piano – Percussion or String?

Piano is the most important popular instrument widely used in western music. A debate is always there whether it is percussion instrument or a string instruments. There are people who argue that it is a percussion instrument and some other people argue that it is a string instrument.

The former say that the player strikes the key to create a sound due to the vibration of the string and that the strength of the strike on the key determines the volume. They also assert that many percussion instruments have keyboards and distinct pitches and that piano is a mammoth and unremovable instrument like many other similar percussion instruments.

But it is generally felt by majority of people that piano is a string instrument. The classification should be based on the sound we hear. It is the string that produces in the sound in a piano and the sound board makes the wonderful projection and tone.

So, it will be more appropriate to classify piano as a string instrument rather than as a percussion instrument.