It's the birthday of the man who invented the piano as we know it: Bartolomeo Cristofori, born in Padua, Italy (1655). He built on the existing harpsichord, which was similar to a piano but could only be played at one volume because harpsichord keys plucked at strings. Cristofori put hammers and dampers onto the harpsichord model, and since hammers hit the strings, the volume changed according to how hard someone played the keys. It was called the gravicembalo col piano e forte,which translates as "harpsichord with soft and loud," and then pianoforte,a "soft-loud," and then just a piano,which means, literally, "soft." Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the first great composers to use the piano, in the 1740s....................In honor of that I di drag out of my invy my piano and played and played...........but yesterday ah yesterday was Pete Seegers birthday,,a great american folk artist,,this land is your land this land is my land,,if I had a hammer,,Michael rowed the boat ashore....I salute all musicians ,,dreamers and lovers all