Is the piano a percussion instrument?

The piano is one of the most-popular musical instruments in the world. But peek inside it, and you'll quickly discover that it is also among the more-complex instruments. You might also begin to wonder what type of instrument it is—percussion or stringed? read more

The piano is a percussive chordophone. Chordophone means "string instrument," and the piano falls under this classification (#338, "keyboard chordophone") in the Hornbostel-Sachs system used to categorize musical instruments. read more

So, the piano also falls into the realm of percussion instruments. As a result, today the piano is generally considered to be both a stringed and a percussion instrument. read more

At the highest level of grouping, authorities differ over whether stringed instruments such as the hammered dulcimer and keyboard instruments such as the celesta are percussion instruments, let alone the piano which is both stringed and a keyboard and yet sometimes also termed percussion. read more