Piano Video Lesson: What are the Different Sizes of Grand Pianos?

Hi. I'm Robert Estrin here with livingpianos.com and virtualsheetmusic.com, with a great viewer question about the different sizes of grand pianos. You've heard it from baby grand, parlor grand, concert grand. What does all this mean? Well, you're going to find out right now.

Well, you know, people ask, "Is this a baby grand? Is this a grand? How do you know the difference?" Well, these are actually general terms. You see, different piano companies have different sizes of pianos. For example, Steinway has a 5 foot one, then they go to a 5' 7", then a 5' 10 1/2". then a 6' 2". Whereas Baldwin has a 5' 2", a 5' 8", a 6' 3". You get to see they all have slightly different sizes. Well, here is the key. Anything about 5 feet is considered to be a baby grand. Now, if it's much shorter than 5 feet, there are even instruments called petite baby grands. Now, you go up to 6 feet, and that's a grand piano. But sometimes there are pianos that are between 5 and 6 feet, like 5' 8" or 5' 7". Those are sometimes referred to as parlor grands. And finally, you get to the big pianos. The semi-concert grand is around 7 feet. It could be 7 1/2 feet. It could be 6' 10". These are all called semi-concert grands. And the big pianos you see on stage when you go to the symphony, those are full concert grands, typically 9 feet. A Bosendorfer Imperial might be 9 1/2 feet. A Steinway is an inch shy of nine feet.

So, in a nutshell, from the smallest to largest, once again you have: petite baby grand, baby grand, parlor grand, grand piano, semi-concert grand, and concert grand. And that's all there is to it. Very good.

Well, thanks for the viewer question. Keep them coming in. I'm Robert Estrin here at livingpianos.com and virtualsheetmusic.com. See you next time.

Automatic video-to-text transcription by DaDaScribe.com

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