Enharmonic keyboard
Encyclopedia
An enharmonic keyboard is a musical keyboard
based on an enharmonic scale
. At the very least such keyboards will have 17 key
s per octave
, and enharmonic
ally equivalent notes will have different pitch
es. A typical keyboard will have one key for, for instance, C sharp and D flat, but a basic 17 key enharmonic keyboard will have two different keys for these notes. Traditionally, these keyboards use split sharp
s to express both notes.
One of the first instruments with an enharmonic keyboard was the archicembalo
built by Nicola Vicentino
, an Italian
Renaissance
composer
and music theorist
. The archicembalo had 36 keys per octave and was very well suited for meantone temperament
. Vincentino also built an organ equipped with an enharmonic keyboard, the archiorgano.
Many instruments with enharmonic keyboards were built during the Renaissance and Baroque
eras. Most composers and performers who used these instruments are virtually unknown today. Among them are Johann Kaspar Kerll
's teacher, Giovanni Valentini
, who played a harpsichord
with 77 keys for 4 octaves (19 keys per octave plus one extra C), and Friedrich Suppig
, who in 1722 published one of the definitive works for an instrument with an enharmonic keyboard: the Fantasia of the Labyrinthus Musicus, which is a multi-sectional composition that makes use of all 24 keys and is intended for a keyboard with 31 notes per octave and pure major third
s.
With the advent of microtonal music
in the 20th century, instruments with enharmonic keyboards became more fashionable, as did early
and Baroque music
for such instruments. For performance and recording purposes, either old instruments are reconstructed or two recordings of two differently tuned
instruments are combined in one, thus creating an effect of an enharmonic keyboard.
Isomorphic note-layouts
are a class of enharmonic keyboard. One isomorphic note-layout, the Wicki, when mapped to a hexagonal array of buttons, is particularly well-suited to the control of enharmonic scales. The orientation of its hexagonal columns of octave
s and tempered perfect fifth
s place all the notes of every well-formed scale -- pentatonic
(cardinality 5), diatonic
(cardinality 7), chromatic
(cardinality 12), and enharmonic (cardinality 19) -- in a tight, contiguous cluster. The notes of each progressively-higher cardinality are appended to the outer edges of the lower-cardinality scale, such that each well-formed scale's note-controlling buttons are embedded, unchanged, within the set of those controlling the higher-cardinality scales. Hence, the skills gained in learning to play chromatic music on a chromatic Wicki keyboard can be applied, without modification, to performance on an enharmonic Wicki keyboard. Isomorphic keyboards were not discovered until the latter half of the 19th century. Had they been discovered earlier, music history could have been quite different.
Musical keyboard
A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...
based on an enharmonic scale
Enharmonic scale
In music theory, is, at its simplest, "a chromatic scale with each tone written in manifold notation". Relatedly, the enharmonic scale is, "an [imaginary] gradual progression by quarter tones," or any, "[musical] scale proceeding by quarter tones". More properly dieses or 'divisions', nonexistent...
. At the very least such keyboards will have 17 key
Key (instrument)
A key is a specific part of a musical instrument. The purpose and function of the part in question depends on the instrument.On instruments equipped with tuning machines, violins and guitars, for example, a key is part of a tuning machine. It is a worm gear with a key shaped end used to turn a cog,...
s per octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
, and enharmonic
Enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note , interval , or key signature which is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature, but "spelled", or named, differently...
ally equivalent notes will have different pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
es. A typical keyboard will have one key for, for instance, C sharp and D flat, but a basic 17 key enharmonic keyboard will have two different keys for these notes. Traditionally, these keyboards use split sharp
Split sharp
A split sharp is a kind of key found in some early keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord, clavichord, or organ. It is a musical key divided in two, with separately depressible front and back sections, each sounding its own pitch. The particular keys that were split were those that play on...
s to express both notes.
One of the first instruments with an enharmonic keyboard was the archicembalo
Archicembalo
The Archicembalo was a musical instrument constructed by Nicola Vicentino in 1555. This was a harpsichord built with many extra keys and strings, enabling experimentation in microtonality and just intonation.- Construction :...
built by Nicola Vicentino
Nicola Vicentino
Nicola Vicentino was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most visionary musicians of the age, inventing, among other things, a microtonal keyboard, and devising a practical system of chromatic writing two hundred years before the rise of equal...
, an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and music theorist
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
. The archicembalo had 36 keys per octave and was very well suited for meantone temperament
Meantone temperament
Meantone temperament is a musical temperament, which is a system of musical tuning. In general, a meantone is constructed the same way as Pythagorean tuning, as a stack of perfect fifths, but in meantone, each fifth is narrow compared to the ratio 27/12:1 in 12 equal temperament, the opposite of...
. Vincentino also built an organ equipped with an enharmonic keyboard, the archiorgano.
Many instruments with enharmonic keyboards were built during the Renaissance and Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
eras. Most composers and performers who used these instruments are virtually unknown today. Among them are Johann Kaspar Kerll
Johann Kaspar Kerll
Johann Kaspar Kerll was a German baroque composer and organist.Son of an organist, he showed outstanding musical abilities at an early age, and was taught by Giovanni Valentini, court Kapellmeister at Vienna. Kerll became one of the most acclaimed composers of his time, known both as a gifted...
's teacher, Giovanni Valentini
Giovanni Valentini
Giovanni Valentini was an Italian Baroque composer, poet and keyboard virtuoso. Overshadowed by his contemporaries, Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz, Valentini is practically forgotten today, although he occupied one of the most prestigious musical posts of his time...
, who played a harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
with 77 keys for 4 octaves (19 keys per octave plus one extra C), and Friedrich Suppig
Friedrich Suppig
Friedrich Suppig was an 18th century music theorist and composer. Practically nothing is known about him or his life, or even if he was in fact a professional composer. He is known for two manuscripts; in one of which he discussed theoretical tuning systems:...
, who in 1722 published one of the definitive works for an instrument with an enharmonic keyboard: the Fantasia of the Labyrinthus Musicus, which is a multi-sectional composition that makes use of all 24 keys and is intended for a keyboard with 31 notes per octave and pure major third
Major third
In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two: the major third spans four semitones, the minor third three...
s.
With the advent of microtonal music
Microtonal music
Microtonal music is music using microtones—intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone. Microtonal music can also refer to music which uses intervals not found in the Western system of 12 equal intervals to the octave.-Terminology:...
in the 20th century, instruments with enharmonic keyboards became more fashionable, as did early
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
and Baroque music
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
for such instruments. For performance and recording purposes, either old instruments are reconstructed or two recordings of two differently tuned
Musical tuning
In music, there are two common meanings for tuning:* Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.* Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases.-Tuning practice:...
instruments are combined in one, thus creating an effect of an enharmonic keyboard.
Isomorphic note-layouts
Isomorphic keyboard
An isomorphic keyboard is a musical input device consisting of a two-dimensional array of note-controlling elements on which any given sequence and/or combination of musical intervals has the “same shape” on the keyboard wherever it occurs – within a key, across keys, across octaves, and across...
are a class of enharmonic keyboard. One isomorphic note-layout, the Wicki, when mapped to a hexagonal array of buttons, is particularly well-suited to the control of enharmonic scales. The orientation of its hexagonal columns of octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
s and tempered perfect fifth
Perfect fifth
In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...
s place all the notes of every well-formed scale -- pentatonic
Pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave in contrast to a heptatonic scale such as the major scale and minor scale...
(cardinality 5), diatonic
Diatonic scale
In music theory, a diatonic scale is a seven note, octave-repeating musical scale comprising five whole steps and two half steps for each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps...
(cardinality 7), chromatic
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
(cardinality 12), and enharmonic (cardinality 19) -- in a tight, contiguous cluster. The notes of each progressively-higher cardinality are appended to the outer edges of the lower-cardinality scale, such that each well-formed scale's note-controlling buttons are embedded, unchanged, within the set of those controlling the higher-cardinality scales. Hence, the skills gained in learning to play chromatic music on a chromatic Wicki keyboard can be applied, without modification, to performance on an enharmonic Wicki keyboard. Isomorphic keyboards were not discovered until the latter half of the 19th century. Had they been discovered earlier, music history could have been quite different.
See also
- equal temperamentEqual temperamentAn equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
- meantone temperamentMeantone temperamentMeantone temperament is a musical temperament, which is a system of musical tuning. In general, a meantone is constructed the same way as Pythagorean tuning, as a stack of perfect fifths, but in meantone, each fifth is narrow compared to the ratio 27/12:1 in 12 equal temperament, the opposite of...
- musical tuningMusical tuningIn music, there are two common meanings for tuning:* Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.* Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases.-Tuning practice:...
- Janko keyboardJanko keyboardThe Jankó keyboard is a musical keyboard layout for a piano designed by Paul von Jankó in 1882.Based on the premise that the hand can barely stretch more than a 9th on the piano, and that all scales are fingered differently, Jankó's new keyboard had two interlocking 'manuals' with three...