Key (musical instrument)

“ This term is used to express the manner in which the keys of the pianoforte or organ are struck or pressed by the fingers. It is a subject of the greatest importance, since it is only by means of a good touch that a satisfactory musical effect can be produced. Touch on a keyed instrument is therefore analogous to a good production of the voice on the part of a singer, or to good bowing on that of a violinist. ”

“ The right hand is placed over the key-board, while the left works the bellows, on the lower side of which are usually to be found two keys which admit wind to other reeds furnishing a simple harmony—mostly the chords of the tonic and dominant. It will be seen that the capabilities of the instrument are extremely limited, as it can only be played in one key, and even in that one imperfectly ”

“ The arrangement of the keys is the sacred tradition of centuries. It presents the tone-system, as it were, lengthways, and is the natural expression of a melodic musical concept. The separation of the black and the white keys has been introduced in accordance with a certain theoretical principle, which allows the difference of position in our scales over the black and white keys to appear somewhat complicated. Our keyboards are constructed entirely on the C major scale ”

“ With the musical sound given out by these vibrating strings must inevitably be mixed the dull and unmusical sound of the blow that set them vibrating. The trained ear will detect not only the thud of the hammer against the string, but that of the finger against the key, and that of the key itself upon its base. The study of touch and tone upon the piano is the study of the combination and the control of these two elements of sound, the one musical, the other unmusical. ”

“ If all the side holes be now closed by the fingers, the note issuing by the bell is B♮, in the treble stave, and by successive removal of fingers or opening of keys fifteen more semitones are obtained, reaching to
; the thumb being constantly kept at its double duty of closing the G hole and opening the B♭ key. With the high C♯, what may be termed the natural scale of the instrument ends, although a whole octave more of notes may be got by cross-fingerings, depending considerably on the individual skill of the player. ”

“ As a matter of fact, the keys of F sharp, B, and D flat major, etc., are only difficult because fate has made them so. It would have served the musical purpose just as well if the pitch of the instruments employed had been adjusted so that what is now F sharp, would be the key of C major. That, however, would not have simplified matters and we have to receive our long established musical notation until we can exchange it for a better one. ”

“ An artist is at this moment engaged at the instrument, but you hear no sound. I place this violin upon the end of the rod; the violin becomes instantly musical—not, however, with the vibrations of its own strings, but with those of the piano. I remove the violin: the sound ceases. I put in its place a guitar, and the music revives. For the violin and guitar I substitute this plain wooden tray: it is also rendered musical. Here, finally, is a harp, against the sound-board of which I cause the end of the deal rod to press: every note of the piano is reproduced before you. ”

“ At the top of each leg is a richly engraved band of brass, and rosette, to conceal the place where the pin held the leg to the instrument. The drawer knobs were doubtless brass also, for these are not the original ones. The panel above the keyboard is beautifully painted in metallic lustre, and has two carved panels besides, over velvet. The legs are boldly carved with the acanthus leaf, and everything about the piano is as elegant as possible. By the time these last two instruments were made music had taken a decided advance. Musical societies were organized in all the large cities ”

“ The frequent trouble is that piano teachers and players generally do not understand their instrument. A singer understands his, a violinist, flutist or drummer knows his, but not a pianist. As he only has keys to put down and they are right under his hand, he does not bother himself further. To obviate this difficulty, for those who come to me, I have had this complete model of piano-key mechanism made. You see I can touch the key in a variety of ways, and the results will be different each time. ”

“ All keyboard instruments in ordinary use produce tones that are only approximately correct in pitch, because these must be limited in number to twelve, to the octave, while the tones of the violin are absolute or untempered. The improved instrument produces untempered tones without requiring extraordinary variations from the usual arrangement of the keys. ”

“ In the case of performers on the clarinet, each player is necessarily provided with two instruments (an A and a B-flat—the C clarinet being almost obsolete, and the E-flat being used only in military bands) ; but in playing upon the brass wind instruments the same instrument may be tuned in various keys, either by means of a tuning slide or by inserting separate shanks or crooks, these latter being merely additional lengths of tubing by the insertion of which the total length of the tube constituting the instrument may be increased, thus throwing its fundamental pitch into a lower key. ”

“ Raised to the strings in playing, these tangents set the strings in vibration, and at the same time form bridges to measure off the lengths required for the notes. The red cloth, woven in the strings behind the tangents, damps the sound. As far as we have met with the clavichords, the instrument has had two, sometimes three strings of brass wire to each note tuned in unison; the treble being, however, occasionally of steel wire to cause a brighter sound. There were sometimes octave strings to the lowest bass octave, after the manner of some theorboes, to make those notes distinct. ”

“ It will be observed that in the matter of so handling the volume of musical sound, prolonging it and slightly coloring it by the use of the pedal or by skillful emphasis of touch, the pianist’s attention is directed ever to the after-sounds, so to speak, of his instrument. He is interested, not in the sharp, clear beginning of the sound, but in what follows it. He finds in the very deficiencies of the instrument possibilities of great musical beauty. ”

“ The strings are twanged with the fingers or with a piece of wood, horn, metal, or any other suitable substance serving as a plectrum; or are made to vibrate by being beaten with a hammer, as our dulcimer. Stringed instruments provided with a finger-board on which different tones are producible on one string by the performer shortening it more or less—​as on the guitar and violin—​are met with almost exclusively among nations in a somewhat advanced stage of musical progress. Such as are played with a bow are the least common ”

“ The rollers are made of light wood and the bearings and pins which are made of metal, WILL NEVER WEAR OUT. This instrument is the Perfection of Musical ingenuity and PLAYS MARCHES, WALTZES, POLKAS, JIGS, Reels, Sacred music, selections from Operas, Popular Songs, etc., and is peculiarly arranged for playing DANCE MUSIC in perfect time. If you have purchased any other style of an Automatic Musical Instrument and have found it a disappointment and a nuisance YOU SHOULD SEND FOR ONE of the above described instruments. ”

“ Thus we find that one view is based on the ideal principle that if, on instruments of the piano and organ type, one key can be put in perfect tune, the whole matter becomes only a question how practically to get-x- over the mechanical difficulty of modulation into other keys. The other view, of course, is that by the compromise of putting all keys a little out of tune you solve the difficulty most easily; that our present musical system, to which is due the wonders of our present-day music and its magnificent literature, is based on the tempered scale ”

“ A portable instrument of the free-reed species, invented at Vienna by Damian, in the year 1829. It consists of a small pair of hand-bellows, to one side of which is affixed a key-board, containing, according to the size of the instrument, from five to fifty keys. These keys open valves admitting the wind to metal reeds, the latter being so arranged that each key sounds two notes, the one in expanding, the other in compressing the bellows. ”

“ Indeed, this noble instrument, under the deft fingering and skilful bowing of a master-player, becomes almost sentient, and is shown to possess the superior and exclusive power of expressing nearly all the human voice can produce except the articulation of words. A music-teacher once wrote that "the art of playing on the violin requires the nicest perception and the most sense of any art in the known world;" ”

“ For the right little finger are the closed key of D♯ and the two open keys of C♯ and C. In many flutes mechanism, still worked by the right little finger, is added to produce B♮ and even B♭. But from the D♮ downwards all the work is accessory, and not directly used in the production of the natural scale. For this reason the instrument is said to stand in the key of D. For the purpose of obtaining each sound by the closure of a single orifice, a somewhat new arrangement of the scale is necessary on certain notes. ”

“ Some specimens (of which we give engravings) are singularly grotesque in shape, representing caricatures of the human face and figure, birds, beasts, and flowers. Some were provided at the top with a finger-hole which, when closed, altered the pitch of the sound, so that two different tones were producible on the instrument. Others had a little ball of baked clay lying loose inside the air-chamber. When the instrument was blown the current of air set the ball in a vibrating motion, thereby causing a shrill and whirring sound. ”

“ The peculiar triangular shape of the Balaläika is of very primitive character, the curved form in lutes and guitars being an artistic development. In a delightfully realistic Russian bronze shown at the Health Exhibition, South Kensington, 1884, the performer simultaneously holds the neck of the instrument and stops the strings with his left hand, while he touches them, guitar fashion, with his right hand, the instrument being free from any other support whatever. ”

“ The harpsichord and the clavichord represent the two most important types of stringed keyboard instruments used from the 15th through the 18th centuries. By the 19th century, the piano had become the most important domestic keyboard instrument. ”

“ In some pianos the soft pedal presses a special damper against the strings; and a third kind of device moves the hammers nearer the strings so that they deliver a lighter blow. These two methods of damping are confined to upright pianos.
A high-class piano is the result of very careful workmanship. The mechanism of each note must be accurately regulated by its tiny screws to a minute fraction of an inch. It must be ensured that every hammer strikes its blow at exactly the right place on the string, since on this depends the musical value of the note. ”

“ But if we were even to suppose each of the chords in the same key, and each of the signatures, of equally frequent occurrence, some chords would occur much [26] oftener, as forming an essential part of the harmony of more keys than others. The Vth DA, for example, forms one of the essential chords of six different keys; while the Vth GD forms a part only of the single key of four sharps.
Proposition IV.
To find a set of numbers, expressing the ratio of the probable number of times that each of the different consonances in the scale will occur, in any set of musical compositions. ”

“ The piano, to be sure, is a more representative instrument, enabling one pair of hands to grasp the whole harmony of a composition, or a compendium thereof; but the violin, with the other members of its family, viola, 'cello,64 &c., is the more social instrument, bringing together groups of kindred spirits who can play in parts, and read together the quartets, &c., of the greatest masters, or play sonata duos, trios, &c., with the piano-forte. And the string-instruments are infinitely the most expressive: their tones lie nearer to the soul, spring more directly from the human breast. ”

“ That no improvement has been made during the last two centuries in instruments of the violin class is a well-known fact. As to lutes and cithers the collection at South Kensington contains specimens so rich and mellow in tone as to cause musicians to regret that these instruments have entirely fallen into oblivion.
As regards beauty of appearance our earlier instruments were certainly superior to the modern. Indeed, we have now scarcely a musical instrument which can be called beautiful. ”

“ The influence of the keyboard upon the development of modern music is as conspicuous as it has been important. To this day C major is 'natural' on the keys, as it is in the corresponding notation. Other scales are formed by substituting accidental sharps or flats for naturals both in notation and on the keyed instrument, a fact which is evidence of the common origin and early growth together of the two. ”

“ Then we have a musician 100 with a small stringed instrument resembling the nablum (see p. 86) . The next musician, also represented as a royal personage, plays on a small species of harp. Then follows a crowned musician playing the viol which he holds in almost precisely the same manner as the violin is held. Again, another, likewise crowned, plays upon a harp, using with the right hand a plectrum and with the left hand merely his fingers. The last two performers, apparently a gentleman and a gentlewoman, are engaged in striking the tintinnabulum—​a set of bells in a frame. ”