The piano is an acoustic, keyboard-stringed percussion instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather).

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It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses or taps with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to make the hammers strike the strings. It was invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700.