Harpsichord and Clavichord: The Piano’s Respected Elders
We’ve talked about how the piano got its name — short for pianoforte, referring to the instrument’s dynamic versatility. This characteristic — the ability to play both loudly and softly depending on the player’s handling of the keyboard — was what distinguished the piano from its immediate predecessors, the harpsichord and clavichord.
So let’s talk about these two venerable ancestors of today’s piano. Someday you may find yourself called upon to play them, or perhaps you would like to try them out of your own interest in the subject. In any case, it’s good practice for the keyboard artist to be aware of some important keyboard instruments besides the familiar piano.
The harpsichord in particular is still played today. Some of the most enthusiastic players are those who prefer to perform on instruments authentic to the era of a given composition. Such performances on “period” instruments, they feel, are more true to the composer’s intentions.
Many contemporary popular artists also like to use these instruments to add a unique timbre to their pieces. The harpsichord has been played in the works of pop performers from the Beatles to Elton John to Tori Amos. These artists and others such as Cece Winans and Annie Lennox have also used the clavinet, an electrically-amplified form of the clavichord.
Let’s visit the harpsichord first.
Like the piano, the harpsichord can be produced in a range of shapes and sizes. In general, also like the piano, the harpsichord consists of a large wooden chamber or case containing the tuned strings, along with a keyboard to control the sounds produced.
However, the harpsichord differs from the piano in the way in which those sounds are produced. Whereas the piano produces sound by striking the strings with small hammers, the harpsichord produces sound by plucking the strings with a plectrum or quill. (In the harpsichord’s heyday, these were often made from the quills of bird feathers, hence the name, although today they are usually made of plastic.) In this way, the harpsichord is related to plucked stringed instruments such as the harp and guitar. The harpsichord’s strings are plucked with the same force no matter how forcefully the player’s fingers strike the keyboard, and therefore the instrument does not have a wide dynamic range.
In contrast to the harpsichord, the clavichord’s strings are not plucked but rather struck by a small metal blade called a tangent. This is shaped something like the end of a small flat-headed screwdriver. In this way the clavichord is similar to the piano, whose strings are also struck. However, the clavichord has some important differences from the piano as well.
For example, since the piano’s hammers fall away from the strings once struck, the tone is not damped unless the pianist chooses to do so. By contrast, the clavichord’s tangent remains in contact with the string after it is struck, thus both producing the sound and damping it at the same time. Because of this, the clavichord’s sound is rather quiet. This makes the clavichord best suited to intimate chamber music, since it would be drowned out if accompanied by a full orchestra, as in a concerto performance. This is why contemporary pop musicians who add the clavichord’s sound to their songs use the electrically-amplified version, the clavinet.
So as you can see, although all of these instruments are played on a familiar keyboard, they all have distinct characteristics to their tone and timbre, which make them more suitable for some venues and less so for others. Once you look beyond the familiar piano, you’ll discover there’s a surprising variety in the world of keyboard instruments.
Tags: ancestors of the piano, baroque music, clavichord, clavinet, contemporary music, harpsichord, history of the piano, keyboard, keyboard instruments, period instruments, piano, piano development, piano history, pianoforte, pop music, stringed instruments, stringed keyboard instruments
