KEYBOARD, the name given to a set of through which the tones of certain mu sical instruments are produced. The principal instruments which are at present operated in this way are the piano and organ. It is in connection with the latter that keys and key boards were first used. Their employment can be traced back to pre-Christian times, but little is known concerning them until we come to the Middle Ages. The organ keys of this time were huge, unwieldy affairs, each key being from three to six inches wide and correspond ingly long. They were not operated by the fingers, of course, but the entire fist or elbow was used in their manipulation, a circumstance which made it impossible to play more than one note at a time with each hand. The keyboards of the period were limited in range, and con fined almost entirely to the so-called diatonic tones (represented at present by the white keys). Later the sharps and flats (black keys) were added, and the size of the keys was gradually reduced to the present dimensions.
The clavichord and harpsichord (precursors of the piano) were further keyboard instru ments. Here, also, there was a development from primitive conditions, but essentially the nature of the keyboard, when once established, was similar to that of the modern piano. Only the range was smaller and the color was some times different, the keys which are now white being black, and those which are black being white. The harpsichord also made use of a double keyboard, each with its specific tonal effects.
The piano keyboard, .which is shown in the illustration, consists of 88 members or keys, 52 being white and 36 black. As is apparent, the latter are arranged in alternate groups of two and three keys. Thus the keyboard is divided into recurrent sections, known as octaves. More specifically, an octave is the dis tance from one key to the next one that is similarly placed. For example, the distance from the middle one of the three black keys, near the centre of the keyboard, to the same key either right or left, is an octave. C is the white key immediately to the left of the group of two black keys. B and A successively follow to the left of this, D, E, F and G to the right. After G a new octave commences with A. The black keys are named after the adjoining white keys, and are called sharps when derived from the white keys immediately to the left, and flats when derived from those immediately to the right. Thus the first of the group of three black keys, counting from the left, may be either F sharp or G flat, the next, G sharp or A flat.
The organ keyboard is similar to that of the piano, only the number of keys is smaller. This does not imply, however, that the range is smaller too, for it is possible to raise or lower the pitch of the keys by means of the mechanical devices known as stops. The organ, unlike the piano, generally makes use of several keyboards, which are called manuals. These are placed above each other, and their number may reach up to five. Besides, there is a distinct
series of keys to be operated by the feet, which is known as the pedal board. By means of the various manuals it is possible to produce a variety of successive effects; likewise to com bine these effects through the use of different manuals for the two hands, and the reinforce ment of the same, if desirable, by the pedal board. Furthermore, it is possible to combine all the manuals and pedal board in a grand total effect.
Although improvements and changes have constantly been made in the tone and mechan ism of keyboard instruments, so great in some cases as to result in the formation of new in struments, no change has been made for cen turies in the arrangement of the keys. Under the circumstances it is natural that this matter should also receive the attention of innovators. Is it likely, we are asked, that an arrangement which grew up under conditions as primitive as those of the Middle Ages, and which was in tended for the crude application of fist and elbow, should also be the ideal one for the delicate fingers, so different in strength and shape? This supposition being rejected, vari ous changes have been suggested, some of a mild nature, some radical in their scope. For example, instead of the straight, side-by-side alignment of the keys, one which is slightly fan-shaped, and with an inward curve, has been suggested. But entire redispositions of the keys, too, have been proposed, the most notable recent attempt in this direction being that of Paul von Janke, a Hungarian inventor. He has devised a keyboard with six parallel rows of keys, one row behind the other, and each successive row slightly elevated above its an terior neighbor. One advantage of this arrange ment is to be found in the immense simplifica tion of performance in the different keys which it allows. It is necessary to learn only two scales—one major, one minor— instead of the present 24. Furthermore, an octave can be spanned with about the same ease as a sixth on our actual pianos.
The invention is ingenious, and the new key board made considerable headway for a time; but the prospects for its universal adoption are meagre. Whatever the disadvantages of the present keyboard, it has the advantage of actual possession of the field. The substitution of a new system would involve the discarding of present instruments, the relearning of the art by those who were educated in the old way, and the abandonment of valuable pedagogical works adapted to the piano and organ as they are. It would correspond, in the realm of music, to the introduction of radical changes in the sys tem of weights and measures, or in the spelling of entire languages. So great are the difficul ties involved, indeed, that it is doubtful whether the change will ever be made. The present keyboard, firmly imbedded in the musical life of the world as it is, seems destined to retain the supremacy which it has so long enjoyed.