It’s an elegant, charming instrument. The strings are mechanically plucked and then muted, making the sound brittle, rattling and clipped , with no variation in dynamics, that makes the harpsichord sound more “formal” and precise than the more sonorous, romantic and ponderous piano.
How does a harpsichord produce sound?
The strings are under tension on a soundboard , which is mounted in a wooden case; the soundboard amplifies the vibrations from the strings so that the listeners can hear it. Like a pipe organ, a harpsichord may have more than one keyboard manual, and even a pedal board (see Pedal harpsichord, below).
How do you describe a harpsichord?
The harpsichord is a keyboard instrument in which the strings are plucked, rather than hit with a hammer (which is the mechanism for the piano, a more recent development). ... The plucked strings of the harpsichord have a rich sound whose clarity informs the complex contrapuntal melodies of baroque music.
What instrument sounds like a harpsichord?
The clavichord is a Western European stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras.
Is a harpsichord louder than a piano?
While playing the piano, you have full control over the volume of sound produced, meaning you can either play soft or loud depending on the way the key is pressed. A harpsichord player does not have such control . No matter how hard or soft you press, the sound will always have the same volume.
Why does the harpsichord sound like that?
The harpsichord mechanism is more guitar-like , and the principle of making the tone is similar. When pressing the key, the piece of wood called jack goes up. There is a plastic part on it, plectrum, which plucks the string. The string vibrates and makes a sound.
How much does a harpsichord cost?
How much do our instruments cost? Many of our harpsichords can be built for between $14,000 and $18,000 , clavichords from $3,000. However, instruments can cost more depending on features and finish.
What’s another word for harpsichord?
In this page you can discover 17 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for harpsichord, like: cembalo , spinet, clavichord, fortepiano, viol, theorbo, sackbut, pianoforte, viola-da-gamba, oboe and bassoon.
What is the harpsichord made of?
Most of the harpsichord is made of wood including the case and the soundboard . Even the keys of most of these instruments are wooden. Another traditional material for keys is ivory, which has now been replaced by plastic like celluloid. The soundboard is often made of spruce, cypruss or cedar.
Who are some famous harpsichord players?
- A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. ...
- Many baroque composers played the harpsichord, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, George Frideric Handel, François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau.
Can pianists play harpsichord?
The overwhelming (and persistently ignorant) opinion of many pianists who are not acquainted with the harpsichord is that all pianists can play the harpsichord because they both have keyboards . ... The keys on a harpsichord are also very light, and much less forgiving of technical inaccuracies than on the piano.
Which instrument produces the highest sound?
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the loudest (and largest) instrument in the world is the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ . This pipe organ was built by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company, and is housed in the Main Auditorium of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
What’s a harpsichord look like?
Generally longer and narrower than a piano, the harpsichord commonly has a shape similar to a grand piano . The metal strings are sounded by plucking with a small piece of material called a plectrum which is held in a narrow slip of wood called a jack attached to the key mechanism.
What would the piano do that the harpsichord could not?
A harpsichord cannot make a sound in different strength because of its structure. ... A fortepiano was a revolutionary instrument that had the characteristics a harpsichord didn’t have: a fortepiano could make both forte and piano and it had a pedal that could sustain the sound.
Why did the piano replace the harpsichord?
Progressively, the pianoforte replaced the harpsichord and clavichord because it offered options previously unavailable with the earlier keyboard instruments . The fortepiano is a hammer-string instrument having the capacity to make nuances primarily through the use of soft or loud playing.
Which baroque instruments is most like the modern day piano?
Harpsichord and organ were his instruments, although today much of his harpsichord music is played on a modern piano.
