Scan 93
The New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians, 1924
46 lines. Read by computer on 10 September 2026. Printed page 71. See the scan on archive.org.
1Kammer-. An element in many German terms and titles connected with the historic practice by royal and noble personages of maintaining as part of their private retinue a body of musicians (collectively known as a capelle, cognate with cappella, chapelle and chapel in other languages) and often of conferring titles of honor, with certain duties and rights, on individuals not held in constant service. See Chamber and Chapel.
3Thus kammermusik means either music designed for such courtly use (opposed to church-music, operatic music, concert-music) or the collective body of musicians employed to supply it. One who regularly takes part in it may be styled kammermusiker or kammersänger. A kammerkomponist or kammervirtuos might not be in constant service. In modern times terms of this class have been much used as honors or titles of distinction, without stated duties.
5Associated with the above are kammermusik in the sense of chamber-music as a class, kammerstil for the style of such music and kammerton for the usual pitch at which ensemble instrumental music was played (see under Pitch).
7Kanoon, Qanun. An Oriental form of zither, having a trapezoidal body and usually a large number of gut and overspun strings, arranged in sets of 2–4 and stretched over two bridges that rest on the soundboard.
9Kantele. A Finnish instrument of the zither-class, usually with 5–13 wire strings.
11It is closely related to the Russian gusli, the Lettish kankles, the Esthonian kannel and some varieties of dulcimer.
13Kapelle, Kapellmeister. See Kammer-, Chamber, Cappella and Chapel. G.
15Kemangeh, Kemanjeh. A small Arab viol with a body made usually of a calabash or a cocoanut-shell, a slender wooden neck, 2–4 strings and a projecting foot of wood or iron, by which the player rests it on the ground as he plays.
17Kent Bugle. A bugle with the scale extended by means of keys; a key-bugle; also called royal Kent bugle; see Bugle. G.
19It was invented by Kälbel of Petrograd in 1770, but perhaps independently by Halliday of Dublin in 1810. Its name is said to have come from its being used before the Duke of Kent.
21Kettledrum. The form of drum most suitable for orchestral use, because capable of being accurately tuned. It is used in sets of two or three (usually called the timpani), tuned to different pitches as indicated by the composer (usually, if two, the tonic and the dominant). G.
23The body is a hemispherical kettle of copper or brass, resting on a tripod, and the large head of parchment (24–30 inches across) is secured by an iron ring and tensed as desired by screws or cords. It is sounded by two elastic sticks with small, soft heads. The player is called kettledrummer or timpanist.
25Key (mechanical). In wind-instruments, especially those made of wood, a finger-lever operating a small, padded lid or pallet that is adjusted to close or open a vent or hole in the side of the tube and thus to determine the pitch of the tone produced. It takes the place of the direct action of the finger and makes it possible to utilize holes that are located beyond the easy reach of the hand. Thus keys serve both to extend the available compass and to simplify fingering. Some keys normally stand open and some closed. Operating them alters the effective length of the air-column in the tube either by increasing or diminishing it directly or by affecting the formation of nodes. G.
27Until about 1800 keys were rare and few on most of the wood-wind group (except the bassoon), but after that time were steadily increased. Theobald Boehm introduced a new system on the flute about 1832 and later extended it to the oboe, clarinet and their relatives.
29In brass-wind instruments the use of finger-holes has always been limited and so that of keys is small. But they are found in some bugles, trumpets and other horns and are extensively illustrated in the saxophone and the sarrusophone (both made of metal, but modeled like wood-wind instruments). Any instrument with keys may be named key- or keyed, as key-bugle, keyed trumpet.
31In instruments of the violin-family, a finger-lever adjusted so as to effect the 'stopping' of a string in place of the finger; usually called a key-stop.
33A violin fitted with such keys is a key-stop violin. A similar device is used in the klavier-violoncello invented by Vlaminck of Brussels in 1893.
35In instruments with many strings stretched over a soundboard (mostly of the zither- or dulcimer-classes) and also in the complex wind-instruments known as organs, one of the finger- or foot-levers (digitals or pedals) constituting the playing-apparatus called a keyboard (see below).
37All keyboard-instruments proper are distinguished from the several keyed instruments named above by being adapted to produce harmonic as well as melodic effects, so that they may be called ensemble-instruments rather than solo-instruments. It is by means of the keyboard that their scope and convenience in concerted effects are secured.
39Key (tonal). In theory, the sum of relations which bind the tones of a scale into unity, so that they can be used in melody or harmony as constituting an interdependent group or series; tonality or keyship. Specifically, any particular scale or tone-series having such relations, usually in the arrangements or modes called major or minor and having a principal tone (the key-note, key-tone or tonic) in which the key-relations are felt to center and by the letter-name of which the scale is designated; any particular scale, regarded as a whole. For details of structure, see Scale and Mode. G.
41Key and scale are used more or less interchangeably, both in a general sense and specifically. Various terms, including key with a qualifying adjective, will be found under Scale.
43In written music, the intended key or scale is usually indicated by a group of sharps or flats (or none) at the beginning of each staff, these constituting the key-signature; see Notation.
45In modulation or any contrast of different keys, it is customary to speak of the key-relation between the keys involved.
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