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This question is a little unusual, and can be answered in different ways. The simple and standard answer is that most (not all) pianos have 88 keys (the black and white levers you press with your fingers), and so you could say that a piano makes 88 different "sounds", or sounds of 88 different pitches. Pitch is the specific frequency of a given note, and its associated (and unique) sound. The note A-440, for example, gives you the tone A, because it vibrates at 440 cycles per second. Beyond the basics above, the fact is that any single note on the piano produces a series of tones called "harmonics", and not just the basic (fundamental or tonic) tone that you would sing if asked to duplicate it. There are many harmonics for every note. The Harmonics, or overtones, are really there and you can train yourself to hear them. But when just listening to piano music, you wouldn't usually have a need to try to pay attention to them. Harmonics are easily demonstrated at an acoustic piano; ask a piano player to show you. Beyond that, there is some music for piano that requires the performer to put certain objects into the wires, or to actually pluck the wires with the fingers, in order to produce a variety of sounds and effects.

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17y ago

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