Today, the termkeyboard often refers to keyboard-stylesynthesizers 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 controldynamics,phrasing, shading,articulation, and other elements of expression—depending on the design and inherent capabilities of the instrument.[1] 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 wordkeyboard is in historical musicology, where it means an instrument whose identity cannot be firmly established. Particularly in the 18th century, theharpsichord, theclavichord, 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 wordkeyboard is typically all-inclusive.
The term keyboard classifies instruments based on how the performer plays the instrument, and not on how the sound is produced. Categories of keyboard instruments include the following families (of which this is only a partial list):
The earliest known keyboard instrument was the Ancient Greekhydraulis, a type ofpipe organ invented in the third century BC.[2] The keys were likely balanced and could be played with a light touch, as is clear from the reference in a Latin poem byClaudian (late 4th century), who saysmagna levi detrudens murmura tactu . . . intonet, that is "let him thunder forth as he presses out mighty roarings with a light 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 sevennaturals to each octave.[3]
Theclavicymbalum,clavichord, and theharpsichord 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 first template for the modern piano was introduced in 1698 in Italy byBartolomeo Cristofori as thegravicèmbalo con piano e forte ("harpsichord with soft and loud"), also shortened topianoforte, as it allowed the pianist to control the dynamics by adjusting the force with which each key was struck. In its current form, the piano is a product of further developments made since the late nineteenth century and is distinct in both sound and appearance from the instruments known to earlier pianists, includingMozart,Haydn, andBeethoven.[1] Beginning in the twentieth century, early electromechanical instruments, such as theOndes Martenot, began to appear as well. Later in the 20th century,electronic keyboards appeared.
^Apel, W.; Tischler, H. (1997).The History of Keyboard Music to 1700. Indiana University Press. p. 9.ISBN978-0-253-21141-5. Retrieved2019-03-25.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.
Young, Percy M.Keyboard Musicians of the World. London: Abelard-Schuman, 1967.N.B.: Concerns celebrated keyboard players and the various such instruments used over the centuries.ISBN0-200-71497-X
