Scan 92
The new encyclopedia of music and musicians, 1929
26 lines. Read by computer on 16 September 2026. Printed page 72. See the scan on archive.org.
1The triad or chord whose root is the key-note or tonic is sometimes called the key-chord.
3Major and minor keys are said to be parallel in either of two senses, (a) when they have the same key-note (tonic major, tonic minor) or (b) when the minor has for its key-note the sixth degree of the major (relative major, relative minor); see Relative and Tonic.
5Keyboard. In the organ, piano, harpsichord and clavichord (with some other instruments) a horizontal series of finger-levers, called keys or digitals, compactly ranged side by side, by depressing which with the fingers the instrument can be sounded in such tones as may be desired. In its modern arrangement it consists of white keys and black keys, the former equally spaced so as to form a continuous row in front and the latter, narrower and also slightly raised, interspersed between the white keys in open groups alternately of two and three, so as to form an interrupted row behind. The white keys are named from left to right by the letters a, b, c, d, e, f, g, beginning always with the key to the right of the middle of each group of three black keys. The black keys are named in two ways, as the sharp of the white key next to the left and as the flat of that next to the right (a-sharp, c-sharp, d-sharp, f-sharp, g-sharp and a-flat, b-flat, d-flat, e-flat, g-flat), which name is to be used in a given case depending on the scale or key (tonality) adopted (further details below). As the keys at the left-hand end yield grave tones and those at the right-hand yield acute ones, the left end is called the lower and the right end the upper. Any key to the right of another is said to be above it and vice versa. Moving from left to right is ascending or up and vice versa. G.
7Depressing any one of the keys sets up a mechanical action within the instrument that depends for its nature and result on the character of the instrument.
9In the organ it acts through a series of rods, pulls and levers (or by the aid of pneumatic or electrical devices) to open a valve admitting compressed air to a pipe or pipes; in the piano it acts through a series of rods and levers to impel a hammer against a string or strings; in the harpsichord it pushes a jack with a projecting spine past a string so as to twang it; in the clavichord it presses a tangent against a string and holds it there. So with other keyboard-applications—in chimes of bells keys are often used to start the blow of a hammer against the bell; in some forms of glass-harmonica keys press mechanical fingers against revolving bowls; in other forms of harmonica and in the xylophone (and its many analogues) keys actuate hammers; in the accordion, concertina and reed-organ keys open valves between the bellows and the reeds; etc.
11The design of all these applications is to bring the operating-apparatus of the instrument into such compact form that its members can be readily manipulated by the fingers of the player's hands. In the pipe-organ (and sometimes in the reed-organ as well) a keyboard on the same plan is provided for the feet. This is then called a pedal-keyboard or pedal; that for the hands being then called a manual-keyboard or manual for distinction.
13The history of the keyboard cannot be traced with precision. The earliest example of it is in a clay figurine of a Greek organ (hydraulus) that was found at Carthage in 1885, supposedly dating from the 2d century A. D. On this a set of sloping levers is discernible that resembles a set of modern white keys, the compass being apparently 19 keys. From scattered references we infer that from the time when the organ was adopted for Christian use (4th century?) it became increasingly common in several countries (Spain, France, England, for example), though until the late Middle Ages with a range of only 1–2 octaves or something more. We are sure that its pipes were sounded by a system of levers, but their exact form is not clear—they may have been vertical in position. About the 12th century the valve-mechanism was so cumbrous that keys several inches broad, depressed by a blow of the fist or the weight of the elbow, were necessary. From that time forward the horizontal keyboard seems to have developed by the gradual reduction of the key-dimensions until by about 1450, in portative organs, clavichords and spinets, it attained something like its present shape and proportions. The upper row of keys long remained distinct in position from the lower, but the two were finally combined into a single system. Even till comparatively modern times the lower keys were often black and the upper ones white.
15The naming of the keys, with the succession of pitches so that short steps occur between tones 2–3 and 5–6 (b-c and e-f), evidently goes back to a time when the Gregorian system was in formation out of Greek traditions. It appears, also, that from the outset there was either uncertainty as to the pitch of the key called b or at least latitude about it, since it might correspond to b or to b-flat. In the former case it was called b quadratum or b, in the latter b rotundum or b; hence the German name h for b and b for b-flat (see Notation).
17Since the adoption of tuning by equal temperament and the generalization of the system of keyboard-scales, it has become usual to call any key next to the right of a given key the sharp of the latter and any key next beyond that its double-sharp, and any key next to the left the flat and the one beyond the double-flat, irrespective of whether these names attach to white or black keys. Hence every key (except the middle one in each group of three black keys) bears three names (c = b-sharp = d-double-flat, g = f-double-sharp = a-double-flat, etc.). This apparent complication actually facilitates the use of notation and the handling of harmonic relations.
19When for any reason a white key needs to be distinguished from a black one it is called a natural (thus a-natural, as distinct from a-sharp or a-flat). The need for this distinction grew gradually. The first intercalary key (such as is now called black) was b-flat. After this others were introduced one by one, as the expanding tone-system required, the probable order of appearance being f-sharp, c-sharp, e-flat and g-sharp. The generalized view of these as forming a 12-toned scale of equal semitones did not secure recognition until about 1700 (see Temperament). In many old instruments all the black keys were not repeated in the upper and lower octaves, and in such cases these latter were called short octaves. This was specially common in pedal-keyboards of organs.
21In naming the keys it is now customary to reckon from middle c (so called because corresponding to c sol-fa-ut in the middle of the hexachord-system, because it was the central degree of the staff-system and because it is now close to the middle of piano-and organ-keyboards), with a theoretical pitch of about 250–265 vibrations per second. The compass of the older organs was often not more than four octaves, but is now usually five (from the second c below middle c). That of modern pianos is seven octaves or something more (from the third a or c below middle c).
23In modern piano- and organ-making it is usual to allow one foot of space for 13 white keys, making the span of an octave about 6½ in. The black keys stand back about 2 in. and are raised about a half-inch. The fall or dip of all keys is about ⅝ in.
25From time to time numerous experiments have been tried with keyboards differing in form from that which has been traditional. The earliest of these, by Vicentino
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