jaklumen
|
|
response 13 of 19:
| Apr 25 07:19:16 UTC 2002 |
I'll have to dig up some Chopin and some Prokofiev sometime. Of
course, the piano is somewhat of a hybrid instrument, and therefore,
it doesn't have to sound like its other percussive cousins. There
are no surviving instruments like the piano that are percussive, too.
There was the clavichord, which hammered metal bars, but it is not
used today except in period music.
Well, no, and that's because the harpischord *plucks* the strings.
It's a very different sound. The harpischord also uses justified
intonation rather than tempered, I believe; at least to the extent
that it must be tuned specifically to the key you are playing in.
You've got to know how to tune a harpischord before you play one
extensively-- or such is my understanding.
I wish I could remember what instrument bridged the gap soundwise
between the archlute and the harpischord. I saw it on a site
somewhere, and I can't remember where I found it.
The celesta has also died with the times (it's a glassblown instrument
that spins on a horizontal wheel, and you play it with moistened
fingers), but I wonder-- what instrument classification does it fall
under?
|