If you’ve studied classical music you are probably familiar with this term. Most people would associate it with the Baroque era of music and while it is certainly featured prominently in that era, counterpoint is something that permeates through lo
Ever since I started doing my Living Piano: Journey Through Time Historic Concert Experience – where I play concerts showing the development of the piano from the harpsichord to the early fortepiano and finally the modern concert grand piano in period costumes, one of the most frequent questions I receive are about the harpsichord. People are fascinated by it’s unique sound and interesting design. Today we are going to explore what makes the harpsichord special and how even though it’s related to the piano it’s a unique instrument.
It’s hard to imagine a time before the piano was invented, yet years ago the harpsichord and the pipe organ were the keyboard instruments of choice. The harpsichord that I perform on has two keyboards but this isn’t usually the case. Most harpsichords only have one manual or set of keys. Early harpsichords had the keyboards shifted in slightly different positions from one another, usually a fifth apart. Later the keyboards were designed with the keys on the two manuals in alignment with one another.
Harpsichords also evolved to have more features such as stops which could change the tone by striking different sets of strings or placing felt on the strings. Later, harpsichords had pedals to change the sound and tone of the instrument. These advancements were made because the harpsichord does not have dynamics by touch alone. This is because the strings are plucked instead of struck with hammers as in a piano. The fact is, no matter how hard or gently you press a key, it will always produce the same volume on a harpsichord – which is which is in sharp contrast to the piano. However, with the addition of stops and pedals the harpsichord is able to produce a variety of tones.
The harpsichord is a much more delicate instrument than the piano and it doesn’t produce nearly as much volume. It was used primarily during the Baroque era as the instrument of choice for performing because it produced more volume than other keyboards of the time. As time went on, instruments got louder which could accommodate larger performing spaces. Eventually the harpsichord lost favor to the piano.
Today harpsichords are rarely found. There are very few produced and there are scare technicians skilled in restoring them. If you play the harpsichord you will probably want to learn to tune to some extent since they are less stable than pianos.
Ever since I started doing my Living Piano: Journey Through Time Historic Concert Experience – where I play concerts showing the development of the piano from the harpsichord to the early fortepiano and finally the modern concert grand piano in
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This can be a real challenge when you have slow notes that have to be louder than fast notes. Why is this so difficult? On a piano, the longer a note holds the quieter it becomes. So when you have a slow melody against faster notes it presents a challenge to make the slower notes stand out.
In the video example above I play the beginning of the Chopin Prelude in E minor and play the two hands with equal force. You will notice that the right hand melody is completely covered up by the chords in the left hand. So what can you do?
It’s actually a very basic principle that’s based upon the human voice. To get a singing quality on the piano you have to translate the power of the breath to the weight of your arms. But how do you practice such a thing? My father Morton Estrin would demonstrate this to me by playing on my arm. What I noticed was that it wasn’t just the beginning of the notes where I could feel the pressure, it was the entire time he was playing a slow melody. I could feel the downward force throughout the entire melody! By doing this, the weight of the arm translates from note to note and creates a constant musical line – much like singing.
You should also keep in mind that if you are replicating the human voice when playing the melody you should build up to the middle of the phrase and decrescendo to the end of the phrase for a natural sounding musical line. This is achieved by using your arm weight to build up the sound and volume of the notes until you reach the climax of the phrase and slowly bring the phrase down in volume by decreasing the arm weight. This is how to make the melody “sing” like a voice.
But how do you control the volume of your other hand? You should touch the keys gently and use minimum motion. That way the melody notes in the other hand will project well.
This is a very important topic and a fundamental part of playing piano. I have another video about how to play louder with notes in the same hand but this video is going to cover how to achieve this with different hands. This can be a real challenge
