Two types of stringed keyboard instrument were available to the household or court musician from the 16th century to the middle of the 18th: the harpsichord and its near relations, the spinet and virginal; and the clavichord. In the harpsichord family the string is plucked by a small plectrum, originally of quill. The variety of sound from these plucked instruments is achieved not primarily by finger pressure, but more subtly by phrasing and articulation. Variety of tonal color can be obtained, on a harpsichord by judicious choice of registration. The harpsichord was used both for solo performance and accompanying in chamber groups and in larger ensembles of the period. It typically had two sets of strings per key, tuned either to the same pitch or with one set sounding an octave higher (a 4' register). The registers were controlled by hand stops above the keyboard. Two manuals (keyboards) were to be found on certain larger instruments, which usually featured three sets of strings. Found from the beginning of the 16th century, the Italian harpsichords were lightly …show more content…
Flemish instruments were more solidly constructed than the Italian, invariably with the basic two sets of strings (either one 8' and a 4' or both at 8' pitch). Two manuals were common, though the upper manual was originally used for transposing; only in the second half of the 17th century was the additional manual used for contrast of tone with the ability to couple the registers of both manuals for a fuller sound. The Flemish often painted their instruments, decorative lids and soundboards being common features. French instruments developed from the Flemish design. Many so-called French harpsichords were in fact Flemish in origin, rebuilt by French makers who increased the compass in both treble and
Resembling an acoustic piano, the low keys are weighted heavier than the high keys. It has a memory that is filled with 50 classic piano songs, as well as the music book, “50 Greats for the Piano.” Fast and simple configuration and navigation is created through the Controller App for an iOS device, providing a rich graphical user interface. Whether the player is ready to record their next number one selling single or simply practice one hand at a time, the 2-track song recorder is a great extra with this
Some well known keyboard players include Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and Debussy. A popular keyboard that is still used today is the organ. The organ ranges in size from a small closet to an entire church. An organ has from two to eight manuals that can have completely different sounds. Air is pushed through pipes to make the many sounds that can be played on a pipe organ. (Raeburn 11) he most known keyboard, the piano, was improved in this era from the harpsichord. The piano has eighty-eight keys with seven octaves plus a few keys. According to “Musical”, sound is made by hammers that strike the strings to vibrate them (“Musical”). The harpsichord was the precursor to the piano. Instead of hitting the strings, the harpsichord would pluck them to make a more metallic sound. The spinet was a small upright piano that is similar to the harpsichord. Another instrument is the virginal. Like the spinet, it is also similar to the harpsichord (“Elizabethan“). Keyboards were and still are the most known class of instrument. This era gave us variations and new keyboards to use and
They weren’t added to keyboards until the thirteenth century. Another instrument that was a prelude to the piano was the pantaleon. It was created by Hebenstreit, a famous dulcimer player. It had 180 strings, was 9 feet long, had an extra soundboard, and had double-faced hammers. It was extremely hard to master. It was short-lived, but was an important influence for the pianoforte. It also created an important link between keyed and non-keyed string instruments (Crombie 5-7).
Some type of instrument that plays chords such as a harpsichord, organ, or Baroque guitar.
2) The Melody Shop– who sell a variety of musical instruments and sheet music from their shop and over the internet.
5. Musical Instruments and their instrument families: A viola, violin, cello, and bass are classified as string instruments. The flute, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, bassoon, English oboe, and contrabassoon are classified as woodwind instruments. The trumpet, tuba, French horn, and trombone are classified as brass instruments. Percussion instruments include timpani, xylophone, chimes, triangle, cymbals, and the bass drum. Keyboard instruments include
The recorder, lute, and hammered dulcimer all were categorized into which group in the Middle Ages? Pas
Sting instruments are musical instruments that are made from wood and have strings. They make their sound when their strings vibrate. This causes the body of the instrument as well as the air inside to vibrate too. The strings are either plucked with the hand or a bow is drawn across the strings. In an orchestra the four string instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello and the bass.
The development of the suite in French keyboard and lute music during the 17th century
•Figured Bass—a system of numbers placed under the music—was developed to indicate clearly the harmonies that should be played with each note indicated in the bass line. The figured bass was typically realized—performed—by the harpsichord.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a family of musicians. It was only natural for him to pick up an instrument and excel in it. His father taught him how to play the violin and harpsichord at a very young age. All of Bach’s uncles were professional musicians, one of them; Johann Christoph Bach introduced him to the organ. Bach hit a turning point in his life when both of his parents died at the age of ten years old. Bach’s older brother Johann Christoph Bach took him in and immediately expanded his knowledge in the world of music. He taught him how to play the clavichord and exposed him to great composers at the time. At the age of fourteen, Bach and his good friend George Erdmann were awarded a choral scholarship to the prestigious
Violins and cellos both have four strings. The violin and the cello have several differences in the size, tuning, tone production and length of each string. These distinctions make the difference between violin and cello response and tone. A professional string player will choose the strings used on his instrument very carefully to match the style of playing.
For example, composers wanted bassoonists to act more like higher woodwind players, and be able to play higher, faster, and louder than ever before. So, as in the classical era, instrument makers had to comply with the composer’s needs. During this time, instrument makers did not “re-invent” the bassoon, but instead they improved it by changing where keys go, and added more keys to make playing easier for the player (JSTOR 114-117). The metals that the keys were made out of and the quality of the keys on the bassoon were better than the dulcian, baroque, and classical bassoons. Some of the key work on the bassoons from the romantic era still remain almost unaltered to this day (JSTOR
The Guittern was shaped like a violin, played with a pick, and had the ability to be tuned in octaves or in unison. This tuning ability was never used in other guitar instruments. Compared to the modern day guitar, the Guittern lacked a movable bridge and a saddle. The Guittern was also the first instrument to use wire strings instead the traditional gut strings used in stringed instruments (Kentor Michael 4).
One thing that over the years I’ve become very good at is learning how to play many musical instruments. The different factors and components of this learning process include learning music theory, learning the basics of an instrument and how to apply different skills to various types of instruments such as string, brass, percussion and wind. Some of the instruments that I have learned are piano, organ, harpsichord, keyboard, guitar, bass, mandolin, trombone, cello, banjo, harmonica and soon the fiddle. Each of these different types of instruments required a different basic skill set.