Post # 11 Interviewing Julie Rivers

Yesterday I interviewed Mrs. Julie Rivers, an excellent keyboard professor that was kind enough to answer some of my Baroque inspired questions. She has comments on Glenn Gould, J. S. Bach and tips for pianists on interpreting Baroque music.  Have fun listening to the audio!

# 10 Mechanics of the Harpsichord Pt. 2

Now that you have a basic understanding of how a harpsichord string is plucked let's go over the aftermath of the process when the plectrum must be lowered without making another plucking noise.  And again a picture.  (Credit to Wikipedia)
The little yellow circle is the string. We're looking at this from the front or the back of the harpsichord. After the musician lets go of the key, the jack fall back to its original place due to its own weight. The plectrum is held by the "pink" tongue in the picture. It swivels on a little axis and has a spring next to it so it can move.  The plectrum is ever so carefully angled so that when it comes back down it hits the string forcing the tongue to swing back against the spring, relieving the weight that would otherwise pluck the string!  So, now you kind of understand how the harpsichord works. if you want a more detailed description check out this book on google: A Guide to the Harpsichord.  

Next week I will post an interview with a keyboard music professor.  So stayed tuned!

#9, Mechanics of the Harpsichord

To better understand the harpsichord I thought it might be helpful to actually explain to you how it works... at least the basics.  So hopefully you won't get bored, and let's get started!  (I'll split this into two posts since this topic is a bit tricky,)

Here's a nifty little chart for you visual learners. (Credit to Wikipedia)

To gain your sense of direction, the left side shows the actual key a musician would play.  When you press on the key, the key pivots down pushing the jacks upward.  Inside of the jacks is something called a plectrum.  Plectrums were originally made out of bird quill but are now usually made of plastic.  The plectrum juts out horizontally so that it can pluck the string, creating sound.  The key is stopped from moving farther upwards than necessary by a cushioned (to muffle the impact) jack rail.  That is the basic understanding of how the key is plucked.  The way the plectrum is lowered without plucking the string again will be explained in the next post.