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14 � Keyboard Instruments mark kroll Solo keyboard music first became an independent and important genre during the seventeenth century. Keyboard instruments were used prior to 1600, of course, but the emphasis on vocal genres during the medieval and Renaissance eras, as well as the limited capabilities of the instruments themselves, consigned the keyboard to a secondary role in the musical activities of church and court. During the seventeenth century, however, a number of factors led to the creation of a large and significant body of solo works for organ, harpsichord, clavichord, and other less well-known keyboard instruments. Among these factors were the increasing emphasis on solo virtuosity and individual modes of expression, technological advances in instrument building, and various political , social, and economic changes and developments. New styles, genres, and forms appeared, and keyboard techniques were introduced that would serve as the models for succeeding generations of performers and composers. This chapter offers an introduction to this rich repertory for pianists and other keyboard players who are unfamiliar with the music and instruments of the seventeenth century, and for non-keyboard players interested in exploring the literature and performance practices of the era. Keyboard Performance Practice Make It Sing The first step is to gain an understanding of how these instruments were played. Before embarking on such a discussion, however, it is important to emphasize that there is a guiding principle to be followed when studying and playing keyboard or instrumental music of any period: all music is vocal. Almost every aspect of musical expression uses song and speech as its model, with instruments serving as mechanical extensions of the human voice. Stated in more familiar terms, most students, and keyboard students in particular , surely remember their teacher constantly admonishing them to “make the Keyboard Instruments 249 instrument sing!” Making an instrument sing, however, is more than merely producing a beautiful sound and a sustained line: it involves the ability to differentiate between vowels and consonants, to evoke the inflections that are natural to vocal performance and rhetorical gesture. This is particularly effective when playing the keyboard instruments of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The harpsichord, for example, with its sharp attack and noticeable termination of sound, is especially well suited for this purpose; in skilled hands it can be the most cantabile and vocal of all keyboard instruments. This intentionally provocative statement is offered here to underscore the difference between the old and newer instruments. The modern piano, a marvel of sonority and technology, is unparalleled in its ability to produce vowels within a seamless legato texture. The larger palette of articulations on the harpsichord, however, and to varying degrees on the organ and clavichord, offers the opportunities to reproduce both vowels and consonants; it can, in other words, make the instruments “sing.” Position of the Hands, Arms, and Body Keyboard players of the seventeenth century were as concerned about establishing the most effective way to use the hands, arms, and body as they are today. They wrote extensively on the subject, and we are therefore fortunate to be able to consult a substantial number of treatises written by the leading teachers and performers of the era that tell us much about the seventeenth century’s approach to this basic issue. One of the earliest and most important of these sources is Il transilvano (1593/1609) by Girolamo Diruta. Diruta’s precepts—for he was a widely respected and highly influential figure—are mentioned and quoted in many other treatises, such as those of Costanzo Antegnati and Adriano Banchieri, and they were often recommended by composers of the period, including Diruta’s teacher Claudio Merulo. Diruta is clear and explicit about the proper hand, arm, and body position to be used when playing the keyboard instruments of the seventeenth century: To begin, the rules are founded on definite principles, the first of which demands that the organist seat himself so that he will be in the center of the keyboard; the second that he does not make bodily movements but should keep himself erect and graceful, head and body. Third, that he must remember that the arm guides the hand, and that the hand always remains straight in respect to the arm, so that the hand shall not be higher than the arm. The wrist should be slightly raised, so that the hand and arm are on an even plane . . . The fingers should be placed evenly on the keys and somewhat curved; moreover , the hand must rest lightly...

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