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A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano , organ , and various electronic keyboards , including synthesizers and digital pianos .
The chromatic range (also called compass) of keyboard instruments has tended to increase. Harpsichords often extended over five octaves (>60 keys) in the 18th century, while most pianos manufactured since about 1870 have 88 keys. The lowest pitch (frequency: 27.5 Hz) of an 88-key piano is equivalent to a sub contrabass in the range name.
To compensate for this, octaves are tuned slightly wide, stretched according to the inharmonic characteristics of each instrument. [3] This deviation from equal temperament is called the Railsback curve. The following equation gives the frequency f (Hz) of the n th key on the idealized standard piano with the 49th key tuned to A 4 at 440 Hz:
The criteria for classifying musical instruments vary depending on the point of view, time, and place. The many various approaches examine aspects such as the physical properties of the instrument (shape, construction, material composition, physical state, etc.), the manner in which the instrument is played (plucked, bowed, etc.), the means by which the instrument produces sound, the quality ...
The earliest known keyboard instrument was the Ancient Greek hydraulis, a type of pipe 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 by Claudian (late 4th century), who says magna levi detrudens murmura tactu . . . intonet, that is "let him thunder forth as he presses out mighty ...
Aeolian Instrument family; The keyboard family can also be referenced, though it is not an authentic instrument family. Rather, it is a common design format for instrument interfaces. There are many types of instruments in the keyboard family, such as string, brass (and other metals), woodwind, percussion, electronic, digital, idiophone, and more.
Keyboard instruments: celesta, organ, piano; String instruments: harp, violins, violas, cellos, basses, frequently abbreviated to 'str', 'strs' or similar. If any soloists or a choir are called for, their parts are usually printed between the percussion/keyboards and the strings in the score. The basic order of the instruments, as seen above ...
Keyboard instruments are not usually a standard members of a 2010-era orchestra or concert band, but they are included occasionally. In orchestras from the 1600s to the mid-1750s, a keyboard instrument such as the pipe organ or harpsichord was normally played with an orchestra, with the performer improvising chords from a figured bass part.