Functions of a Keyboard: Term 3

PIPE ORGAN
The pipe organ is a big and expensive instrument that you'll most likely find in churches or other big rooms. The reason for this is because they are so large and their sound is very loud. It is easy for a pipe organ to fill a very large room with sound, but placing it in a small room would make the sound too overwhelming. Considering it's volume, the pipe organ would is rarely suitable for accompaniment, but it is for solo pieces. A situation where the organ is used as accompaniement is when a large group of people sing together, for example in a choir or during a mass. Because the large group produces a lot of sound, the organ does not overpower them. Also, because the organ sustains so well, it makes it a lot more suitable to sing over than a harpsichord.  Most pipe organs have four keyboards with each 61 keys, which makes 244 keys in total. With a pipe organ you can also play bass notes with the foot pedal keys. This ability does not occur on a piano or a harpsichord.  The sound is created by playing notes on the keyboard. when you play a note, air runs through the pipe that it is linked to. The pipes are arranged into ranks. A rank is a set of pipes with a pipe for each note on the keyboard. All the pipes within a rank create the same kind of sound (not the pitch). an organ can have lots of ranks, which you can play seperately or together by pulling out the stop. This causes the organ to have a lot of different tone colours, which a piano or a harpsichord lack. You can not change the velocity on a pipe organ because the airflow is always constant. This causes lack of dynamics. The pipe organ is not a very practical instrument, because it is so large it's not transportable. They are made on the spot where they'll stay. There is no factory that manufactures parts of a pipe organ, so everything has to be made there and then. This obviously takes a lot of time. A pipe organ also needs to be tuned pipe by pipe.

HARPSICHORD
A harpsichord has 4 to 5 octaves. The sound of a harpsichord is created by a plectra plucking the strings when the keys on the keyboard are pressed. This means that the notes do not sustain on a harpsichord which causes lack of dynamics, but it gives you the opportunity to play notes very fast and play repetitive melodies, which you can not do on a pipe organ. A harpichord is smaller and so more easily portable than a piano and a pipe organ. Because of its small size, they changes the size and shape of the soundboard and they made the strings longer to increase the volume, because it would not be loud enough on it's own. Often each note has thicker and more than one string as well which gives them differences in tonal quality. It is said that the feel of the key is very different from other instruments with a keyboard , because you can feel the tension of the plectra plucking the string. It has to be tuned string by string. A harpsichord is mostly used in churches, because there is a lot of echo which enhances the volume of the instrument and makes it sound slightly less staccato. I am assuming that the harpsichord can be used for both accompaniment and solo pieces, but because it has such a huge attack which cuts through and is so percussive, it is more suitable as a solo instrument. It is often used for Basso Continuo, which means playing the bass line and chords. The reason why Basso Continuo is suitable for the harpsichord,is because of it's attack that cuts through the sound of the other instruments.

PIANO
A piano has 52 white keys and 36 black keys and has a soundboard, just like a harpsichord. When a key is pressed, a hammer strikes down and hits the string. The moment the key is released, the hammer shoots back up and a damper stops the strings from vibrating. A way to sustain the note is to press down  the most right pedal called The sustain Pedal, which causes the dampers to not come down on the strings. A piano has two more pedals that can change dynamics of the piano, which the organ and harpsichord don't have. The most left one is the Una Corda Pedal, which diminishes the timbre and the volume of notes that are played. The Sostenuto Pedal, which is the one in the middle, allows you to sustain only certain notes by pressing those keys and before you hold down the pedal. Everything played after won't be sustained. Because the vibrations go through the soundboard, the sound comes out much louder than it would be on it's own, just like with a harpsichord. This sound board of course would be useless for a pipe organ, as the sound is created by the air through the pipes instead of by strings. This instrument also needs tuning string by string, just like the harpsichord. Other than a harpsichord and a pipe organ, using different strength on the keys does have an effect on the volume. this allows you to play with much more dynamics. Because a piano has both controllable volume, more subtle and mellow sound and can still be very overpowering , it can be used for accompaniment and for solo pieces.


ELECTRIC KEYBOARD (SYNTH)
A synthesizer's sound is produced by a oscillator which is a device that produces electric signals, referred to as 'waveforms' which contain the information about what sound you chose and sends them to the speaker. All the sounds are produced, which means that it does not sound realistic like a live instrument or even a sampler. This is an advantage when you perform electronic music because it allows you to create sounds that can not be created with live instruments. Because a synth does not use a lot of memory, you can store a lot of different sounds on it and it loads a lot quicker than a sampler would do. However, you are limited to the sounds that the manufacturer has available because you are not able to record your own sounds on to it. A synthesizer can not change the harmonic content or the tone on it's own like you can do on a sampler. You would need so called sound modifiers like filters or amplifiers. Obviously, a synth does not need tuning like live instruments, and nor does a sampler. It is also more easily portable than live instruments, but it does not have any of the features that live instruments have like realistic acoustic sound.



ELECTRIC KEYBOARD (SAMPLER)
A sampler works very differently than the synth, because with this device you record actual sounds. For example, when you want to put piano sounds on your sampler, you would have to record every note separate and link them to the keys on your electric keyboard. Now when you press down an A on your sampler, your recording of the A should be played. Because you record the sounds from a live instrument, it sounds more realistic than a synth, but obviously not as realistic as the live instrument itself. The sampler also allows you to transpose, change the speed and volume of the recorded sounds. A disadvantage is that the sounds take up a lot of storage which causes delays and slow loading. A reason for having a sampler instead of a live instrument is because live instruments tend to be a lot more expensive and a lot less transportable. When you are playing a lot of gigs and want different instrumental sounds, carrying around 4 live instruments is a real struggle. When you want to have authentic sounds thus mimic live instruments, a sampler is perfect. You can even use some of the gadgets that you can also find on a synthesizer, which change the sound of your recordings.