Let’s begin at the beginning. The grand piano is the “purest” form of the piano we have today. The original, if you will. Upright pianos were designed after the fact as a compromise for cost and space. They take up less room, which is often a factor, and they cost less, which is also often important. But do they perform differently or just look different? The short answer is that they are so different that it’s almost surprising that they are both called pianos.
One commonly held misconception is that grand sound better than uprights. This is not necessarily true at all. The quality and volume of sound produced by a piano is a function of several factors. The quality of the materials, the craftsmanship, the length of the strings, the size of the soundboard, and the scale design of the instrument are a few of the main elements to consider. There is certainly no reason that an upright piano cannot have as high a score in all of these areas as a grand. In fact, a small grand piano, around the 5′ mark, will have shorter strings and a smaller soundboard than a tallish upright. I have played and tuned many outstanding upright pianos over the years. One very well-known piano maker states that they don’t make upright pianos for their customers who can’t afford their guards; they make uprights for their customers who don’t have space for a grand. Of course, as you move into the larger grand sizes, they will surpass even the largest uprights in soundboard size and string length, thereby producing greater tonal quality and volume, assuming the similar quality of materials. A 9′ concert grand will sound better than a 45″ upright.
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