What's the story behind the world's oldest piano?

What's the story behind the world's oldest piano? Sasha age 10 Hi, I'm Sasha. I'm 10 years old. And I'm from Brooklyn, New York. <i>(Sasha) I'm here</i> <i>in the musical instruments galleries with Jayson.</i> My name is Jayson Dobney, and I am an Associate Curator here in the Department of Musical Instruments. I love music, and I play flute, piano, and guitar. <i>I love it that the museum has a whole musical instruments department.</i> Today, let's take a look at the piano. <i>(Sasha) The word "piano" was originally "pianoforte,"</i> <i>which means "soft and loud" in Italian.</i> <i>And that is because the piano can play soft and loud sounds.</i> This is the oldest piano in the world, invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1720. <i>(Jayson) That's right. And it was invented in Florence, Italy.</i> <i>So he invented the instrument and then made a bunch of them.</i> <i>This is just the one that survived.</i> What does it sound like? What does it sound like? Well, let's find out! ♪ (piano music) ♪ Wow. (Sasha) What's the story behind the piano? Did Cristofori want to make a new instrument? (Jayson) Well, as we said, the piano plays soft and loud. Cristofori wanted a keyboard instrument that could play soft and loud to accompany singers and to accompany violinists. So he was not trying to invent a new instrument. He was trying to invent a harpsichord that could play soft and loud. But the result was he invented the piano, and it changed music history. (Sasha) I like playing the piano because you can play so many songs on it. It's like you can play anything. This is Sasha reporting from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ♪ (piano music) ♪ What's your #metkids question? Take note, MetKids. (laughter)