In the history of musical instruments, the keyboard is something of a Johnny-come-lately, having first appeared some 2,250 years ago. The earliest instrument of all is the human voice, and some form of rudimentary percussion probably came next. The plucked string – ancestor of the harpsichord family – is likely to have arrived with the firing of the first arrow, if not before; the wind family with a blade of grass ...
Like its close relation the concertina, the accordion is a glorified mouth organ, in which the ‘reeds’ (now generally made of tempered steel) are set in vibration by a rectangular bellows. The bellows are operated by the left hand, which also – as in all keyboard instruments – manipulates the so-called bass keyboard, in this case a collection of buttons, rather than keys proper, which produce both single notes and certain ...
On the face of it, barrels and music would seem unlikely bedfellows. Their alliance, however, goes back at least to the ninth century, when the first detailed description of a barrel organ appeared in an Arab treatise. Mechanics of the Barrel Organ The mechanical principle underlying all such instruments, from the automated organ and piano to the spectacular mechanical orchestras of the nineteenth century, for which Beethoven composed his notorious Battle Symphony. ...
The history of musical instruments has always been very closely linked to the history of music itself. New musical styles often come about because new instruments become available, or improvements to existing ones are made. Improvements to the design of the piano in the 1770s, for instance, led to its adoption by composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91), who quickly developed a new, individual style of keyboard writing. On the ...
One of the oldest keyboard instruments, the clavichord has its origins in the late-fourteenth century, and was used throughout Western Europe during the Renaissance. It maintained its popularity in German lands into the first quarter of the nineteenth century, when, like its cousin the harpsichord, it was decisively superseded by the piano. Pitch and Timbre The clavichord is the most touch-responsive keyboard instrument yet devised. The piano’s range of dynamics and tone ...
The affectionately nicknamed ‘squeeze box’ is the smallest of all conventional keyboard instuments, and the lowliest cousin of the organ (except the shirt-pocket harmonica). Strictly speaking, however, it has neither keys nor a keyboard. Nor has it a uniform shape. Playing Technique Whereas the standard English concertina is hexagonal, German and American models are square. The basic principle, though, is common to all: tuned metallic reeds are set in motion by ...
Often regarded as the country cousin (and hence the bumpkin) of the organ family, the harmonium did add a touch of warmth to many nineteenth-century rural homes, where the purchase of a piano would have been an unaffordable luxury. But the two instruments often cohabited, too. Harmonium Compositions Today, unlike the piano, the harmonium is a rarity, ousted among other things by its electronic successors, but it was never a bumpkin. Many ...
In one form or another, the harpsichord ruled the domestic keyboard roost throughout Europe – and later in America – from the late-sixteenth to the early-nineteenth centuries. Apart from the organ, it was the grandest and most versatile of all keyboard instruments until the advent of the mature fortepiano in the mid- to late-eighteenth century. Rise and Fall of the Harpsichord Its prevalence may be gauged by the fact that the first ...
Keyboard percussion instruments include the western xylophone, marimba, vibraphone and glockenspiel, the log xylophones and marimbas of Africa and Central America, and the barred instruments played in the Indonesian gamelan. The orchestral xylophone, marimba and glockenspiel have thin wooden or metal rectangular bars laid out like a chromatic piano keyboard. The back row of bars – the sharps and flats – are raised above those in front. The bars of the ...
Zither The zither is part of a group of instruments which are linked by the fact that sets of strings run parallel to their main body, and that – unlike the lute, lyre or harp – they can still be played even without a resonating device. In the concept’s least advanced state, native instruments exist which are little more than a stick carrying strings along its length. Closely identified with the Alpine ...
The organ is an instrument of extremes – the biggest, the loudest, the lowest, the highest, the oldest, the newest and the most complex, it is also among the smallest, the most intimate, the most modest, and the simplest. Organ Extremes The aptly named portative organ – much played from the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries – rested comfortably on the player’s lap, while being pumped with the left hand and played ...
In 1905, and probably for several decades before that, there were more pianos in the United States than there were bathtubs. In Europe, throughout the nineteenth century, piano sales increased at a greater rate than the population. English, French and German makers dispatched veritable armies of pianos to every corner of the Earth. It was the instrument of the age. A Romantic Symbol Born around 1700, in the twilight of the traditional ...
The name ‘player piano’ is a misnomer, indeed the precise opposite of the truth. In fact, this is a playerless piano – a piano that plays itself. Origins of the Player Piano Though almost exclusively associated with the early-twentieth century, the idea of a self-playing piano had been around for centuries. Henry VIII’s self-playing virginals and Clementi’s studded-cylinder piano of 1825 were part of the same dream. The key to its fulfilment ...
The spinet is known by many names and has several definitions. Perhaps the most misleading is the American usage of the term to denote a small upright piano. The most confusing is the use of the word to describe a square piano, and a more ancient confusion arises from its use as a synonym for the virginals or, indeed, any small harpsichord. Spinet Construction The word itself derives from the Latin spina ...
The sole remaining mystery of the virginals is its name – and its singular plurality. A virginals? Nor need there be two instruments to speak of a ‘pair’ of virginals. This was common parlance in Tudor times. Origins of the Virginals As to the singular or plural form, both are acceptable these days – but why ‘virginal’ in the first place? Can this be an instrument conceived never to be played? A ...
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