Post #7, Harpsichords 1.

Tonight we will look at the harpsichord and the attributes of this amazing instrument. In the next post I will discuss the different types of harpsichords available to the people of the Baroque period. Basically, this will be an overview of the harpsichord. This instrument was popular during the 16th and 17th centuries and gradually fell out of popularity during the 18th century (everyone was too excited about the piano to care about the harpsichord.) During the 20th century an interest in the instrument grew and replicas were made to try to duplicate the music of the Baroque era accurately. It has even appeared in popular culture such as in "Slim Shady" by Eminem.

The harpsichord was used for solo pieces and often accompanied other instruments. Unlike the piano, the harpsichord has no dynamics. To compensate for this, many models had settings where more than one set of strings at a time would be plucked as you played increasing the volume. To imitate this, pianists will change dynamics suddenly instead of gradually changing dynamics with crescendos or decrescendos. Often the hands will play at completely different dynamics to bring out theme in pieces that have multiple voicings.  Many also had two separate keyboards in order to have a larger pitch range.
 So now you have a general idea of what harpsichords were all about. They were versatile; holding prominence in concertos for harpsichord but also could be used to accompany a violinist's sonata.