Keyboard Instruments and Its Social and Cultural Impact - Essay Example

s the assignment was due The Keyboard Music Mostly music will be composed using the culture and the society in which the musicians live, as the influencing factor, whatever be the region in which the music arises. At the same time, as the music comes from the culture and society, the same music and the musical instruments will also have an effect on the type of music played in a specific region, even making an impact on the region’s cultures and societies. So, this paper by focusing on various keyboard instruments will discuss how the instruments ‘played’ a prominent role in European music, and also how they had an effect in the societies and cultures in which they were / are most used. European Music, Keyboard instruments and its social and cultural impact The Keyboard instruments are ‘playing’ an important role in European Music from time immemorial. That is, the keyboard instruments started to make impact on the European music way back from the 15th century itself, when the era of Classical European Music begun. Importantly, most of the well known European musicians are players of keyboard instruments like h Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, George Frideric Handel, Robert Schumann, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, etc. The short list of keyboard instruments, which had an impact and influence on the European music as well as on the society and culture, starts off with harpsichord. Harpsichord, also known as Italian cembalo and French clavecin, is a stringed keyboard instrument developed in Europe in the 14th century. It was widely used in all the forms of European music till the early 19th century, when it was superseded by the piano. So, Harpsichord being the precursor of Piano, mainly had a wing-shaped body, or case, like a grand piano; however, its proportions are narrower and longer, and the case and its inner bracing are normally lighter (baroque-music.com). Harpsichords in most of the European countries were manufactured with two keyboards or manuals, which can be separated or coupled to provide further variations in the music, it creates. So, “a typical two-manual harpsichord of the 18th century had strings at normal and octave-high pitch playable on the lower manual, strings at normal pitch controlled by the upper manual, and a coupling mechanism” (baroque-music.com). This harpsichord along with other keyboard instruments only revived the European music, by giving the European musicians the correct opportunity to create effective compositions. The incisive sound quality of the plucked metal strings added great clarity to melodic lines of the European music. Also, the harpsichord is particularly effective in performing contrapuntal music of Europe. “That type of music consisted of two or more melodies played at the same time, such as that of the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.” (baroque-music.com). Bach only composed the Eight Short Preludes and Fugues as a collection of works, using the keyboard instruments, and among them only the earlier G minor version was created using the harpsichord (Hennessy and Parle). From the cultural and society point of view, Harpsichords were also regarded as interior decorative article, like a well-furnished furniture. Along with modeling the Harpsichords as furniture, a lot of decorations were made on the Harpsichords, making it an attractive part or furniture of the society. The decorations were done through buff paint, leather or velvet coverings, and also through highly elaborate artwork or drawings. Even when Piano tried to supersede it in the 19th century, harpsichord was played by many musicians like Arnold Dolmetsch, Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, Wanda Landowska, etc, creating a revival of shorts Pipe Organ is another keyboard musical instrument which ‘played’ a crucial role in the evolution of European music. A Pipe organ consists of flue pipes and/or reed pipes, an air supply, and the keys and other controls. The pipe organ produces music, when the sound of the pressurized air driven through a series of pipes, is controlled by a keyboard (baroque-music.com). It is considered as one of the oldest keyboard instruments, which are still being used in European classical music. Actually, the first recorded instance of pipe organ dates back to the 3rd century B.C., with the Romans calling it the “hydraulis”. Then, pipe organs evolved and contributed much to the European music, particularly to the Church music, as the elaborate pipe organs were mainly constructed for the different cathedrals of medieval Europe. Even the famous musician, Mozart worked as church organist and composed many compositions on this instrument, even calling the pipe organ the king of all instruments. The other big names who played pipe organ are Beethoven and Bach, enriching the European music. Tagged as church organs, accompanying the musical portions of the service, Pipe organs integrated into the society and the culture of Europe, when it was used in common venues like arts centers, concert hall, etc, etc. Even the pipe organs that were destroyed during the English Reformation of the sixteenth century and the Commonwealth period were constructed and used in all the environments during the Restoration period. The Romantic period also played a part in the evolution of the Pipe organ as this keyboard instrument changed styles from being a polyphonic instrument to a symphonic one during the Romantic period. Even, combination actions were introduced to aid the organists, deal with the huge number of registration changes that were necessary to play Romantic music. The other way, in which the pipe organs evolved, is by providing the background music to the silent European movies, with a single pipe organist providing all the music of a small orchestra. Reed Organs are also Keyboard instruments, in which the wind supply is directed toward the free metal reeds, where it is controlled by the keyboards. “The first reed organ was made by François Debain in Paris, France, in 1842 which he called the harmonium.” (wikipedia.com). Apart from harmonica, accordion, melodeon, etc are also reed organs, manufactured in other parts of the world. But in Europe, any reed organs are always called as harmonium, in spite of whether the organ has pressure or suction bellows. It was mainly used by organists at churches, as its smaller size, portable nature and cheaper price, made it, the stable organ of many churches. So, the Reed organs instead of pipe organs were used as part of congregational singing, in majority of the European churches. Then, it was also used as part of home entertainment in different European societies. The most popular keyboard instrument of Piano was actually introduced as the next or the advanced version of Harpsichord and Reed organs. The piano, which produces sound due to the keyboard’s striking of steel strings with felt hammers, is the dominant keyboard musical instrument of the European music, from the classical period till today. “The classical period, from about 1750 – 1820, established many of the norms of composition, presentation and style, and the piano became the predominant keyboard instrument”. As piano changed with the times, the range and power of the piano also increased, with improved chromatic capacities and also greater projection of the instruments. The European influence is visible even in the naming of the word, Piano. That is, the word “piano” is a shortened form of the Italian word “pianoforte”, which is actually used for Harpsichord in Italian. As, the piano was invented based on other European instruments like Harpsichord, Reed organs, etc, it had a greater impact on the European music. The other social factor, which further evolved Piano, is the Industrial revolution. That is, the Industrial Revolution led to the manufacture of high-quality string steels, which was used to make piano strings or wires. Only after Piano made entry, that many classical European compositions were created by the doyens of European music, like Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and Chopin. Among the many compositions and preludes, Chopin’s Nos. 3 in G, 4 in e minor, 8 in F sharp minor, 19 in E flat is considered one of the greatest. “The right-hand melody is played by the thumb. Chopin writes the chromatic inner voice in smaller notation. This feverish vision is one of the greatest of the preludes”. (The Vancouver Chopin Society). Also, Piano entered the social sphere more than the other keyboard instruments, as it was used in various spheres of human life from church to films, concerts, personal spaces, etc, etc. So, Keyboard instruments had a tremendous impact on the European music and even on the society and the culture of earlier times. This impact was normally on the positive side, providing a lot of enrichment to the European music. Works Cited baroque-music.com. Baroque music. 3 February 2008. http://baroque-music.com/frames/info/hc.shtml Hennessy, Gail and Parle, Nicholas. J.S Bach: Music for Oboe and Harpsichord: Oboe Sonatas & Preludes and Fugues from The Well Tempered Clavier, 3 February 2008. http://www.signumrecords.com/catalogue/sigcd034/index.shtml The Vancouver Chopin Society. The Preludes. 3 February 2008. http://www.chopinsociety.org/chopin/preludes#prel8 wikipedia.com. Read Organ. 15 November 2007. 3 February 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_organ Read More