A piano hammer strikes a string and then falls away so the string can vibrate freely.

The longer version

Felt-covered hammers are thrown at the strings and rebound immediately, so the string is left to swing on its own instead of being damped by contact. A damper resting on the string is lifted at the same moment and drops back when the key is released. Strings are held at high tension across a heavy frame so the pitch stays stable.

Because the strike is brief and hard, it excites many overtones at once, giving an attack that then decays steadily. The softness of the felt decides how bright that attack is: harder felt favours the upper partials. A sustaining pedal lifts all the dampers together, letting untouched strings join in.

Where this entry sits

Sound and Music gathers facts about how vibrations move through air and water, how ears turn them into meaning, and how instruments and notation shape what listeners hear. Expect echoes, pitch, volume, acoustics, and the odd silence in between. The full list sits on the Sound and Music page, where every entry is listed in order.