Keyboard instrument: Difference between revisions

A '''keyboard instrument''' is a [[musical instrument]] played using a [[musical keyboard|keyboard]], a row of levers whichthat are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the [[piano]], [[organ (music)|organ]], and various [[electronic keyboard]]s, including [[synthesizer]]s and [[digital piano]]s. Other keyboard instruments include [[celesta]]s, which are struck [[idiophone]]s operated by a keyboard, and [[carillon]]s, which are usually housed in [[bell tower]]s or belfries of churches or municipal buildings.<ref name="kelzenberg">{{cite web |last=Kelzenberg |first=David |title=What are Historical Keyboard Instruments? |url=http://www.mhks.org/whatare.htm |access-date=2012-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130212121344/http://www.mhks.org/whatare.htm |archive-date=2013-02-12}}</ref>

Today, the term ''keyboard'' often refers to keyboard-style [[synthesizer]]s and arrangers as well as work-stations. These keyboards typically work by translating the physical act of pressing keys into electrical signals that produce sound. Under the fingers of a sensitive performer, the keyboard may also be used to control [[Dynamics (music)|dynamics]], [[Phrase (music)|phrasing]], shading, [[Articulation (music)|articulation]], and other elements of expression—depending on the design and inherent capabilities of the instrument.<ref name="kelzenberg" /> Modern keyboards, especially digital ones, can simulate a wide range of sounds beyond traditional piano tones, thanks to advanced sound synthesis techniques and digital sampling technology.

Another important use of the word ''keyboard'' is in historical musicology, where it means an instrument whose identity cannot be firmly established. Particularly in the 18th century, the [[harpsichord]], the [[clavichord]], and the early piano competed, and the same piece might be played on more than one. Hence, in a phrase such as "Mozart excelled as a keyboard player,", the word ''keyboard'' is typically all-inclusive.

*'''[[aerophone]]s''' ([[pipe organ]], [[Pumppump organ|harmonium]], [[accordion]]);

*'''[[idiophone]]s''' ([[celesta]], [[carillon]], [[glasschord]]);

**''[[plucked string instrument]]s'' ([[harpsichord]], [[spinettangent piano]], [[lautenwerck]]);

*'''[[Electronic musical instrument|electrophones]]''' ([[electric piano]]s, [[Electric organ|electric]] and [[Electric organ#Electronic organs (1930s–)|electronic organs]], [[synthesizer]]s, [[mellotron]]).

The earliest known keyboard instrument was the Ancient Greek [[hydraulis]], a type of [[pipe organ]], invented in the third century BC.<ref name="Apel Tischler 1997 p. 9">{{cite book |last=Apel |first=W. |last2=Tischler |first2=H. |title=The History of Keyboard Music to 1700 |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-253-21141-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRvj70n4yY0C&pg=PA9 |access-date=2019-03-25 |page=9 |quote=According to almost unanimous reports, Ctesibios, a Greek engineer who lived in Alexandria during the 3rd century B.C., was the inventor of the first organ, the so-called hydraulis.}}</ref> The keys were likely balanced and could be played with a light touch, as is clear from the reference in a Latin poem by [[Claudian]] (late 4th century), who says ''magna levi detrudens murmura tactu . . . intonet,'' that is “let"let him thunder forth as he presses out mighty roarings with a light touch”touch" (''Paneg. Manlio Theodoro,'' 320–22). From its invention until the fourteenth century, the organ remained the only keyboard instrument. Often, the organ did not feature a keyboard at all, but rather buttons or large levers operated by a whole hand. Almost every keyboard until the fifteenth century had seven [[natural (music)|naturals]] to each octave.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/keyboard-instrument|title=Keyboard instrument|website=britannica.comEncyclopedia Britannica }}</ref>

The [[clavicymbalum]], [[clavichord]], and the [[harpsichord]] appeared during the fourteenth century—the clavichord probably being earlier. The harpsichord and clavichord were both common until the widespread adoption of the piano in the eighteenth century, after which their popularity decreased. The pianofirst wastemplate revolutionaryfor becausethe amodern [[pianist]]piano couldwas varyintroduced thein volume1698 (orin dynamics)Italy ofby the[[Bartolomeo soundCristofori]] by varyingas the vigor with which each key was struck. The piano's full name is ''gravicèmbalo con piano e forte'' meaning ''("harpsichord with soft and loud'' but can"), bealso shortened to ''piano-fortepianoforte'', as it allowed the pianist to control the dynamics by adjusting the force with which meanseach ''soft-loud''key inwas [[Italian language|Italian]]struck. In its current form, the piano is a product of further developments made since the late nineteenth century, and is far removeddistinct in both sound and appearance from the "pianos"instruments known to earlier pianists, including [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], and [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]].<ref Inname="kelzenberg" fact,/> Beginning in the moderntwentieth pianocentury, isearly significantlyelectromechanical differentinstruments, fromsuch evenas the 19th-century pianos used by [[FranzOndes Liszt|LisztMartenot]], [[Frédéricbegan Chopin|Chopin]]to appear as well. Later in the 20th century, and [[Johanneselectronic Brahms|Brahmskeyboard]]s appeared.<ref name="kelzenberg" />