The Harpsichord Owner's Guide

The Harpsichord Owner's Guide
Author: Edward L. Kottick
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2013-01-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1469610604

Kottick presents technical information in an accessible, but entertaining, way: the forms and styles of harpsichords, advice on purchasing decisions, maintenance techniques (such as voicing, regulating, and changing strings, tongues, plectra, springs, and dampers), aids in troubleshooting common problems, and detailed instructions on tuning and temperament. As builder of some thirty keyboard instruments, Kottick is well qualified to speak on the subject.

A Guide to the Harpsichord

A Guide to the Harpsichord
Author: Ann Bond
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2003-03
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781574670639

This practical guide treats the mechanics and evolution of the instrument, and offers a survey of its literature. The author provides valuable advice on touch and technique, including articulation and fingering, with a lucid exposition of the issues involved in historical performance practice and a clear explanation of ornamentation. The repertoire of each of the great national schools is presented and discussed, with four representative pieces singled out for detailed analysis. More advanced players will welcome the author's suggestions on continuo playing and the helpful discussion of tuning and temperaments. From advice on acquiring a harpsichord, to wise counsel on how to play it and what music to choose, to suggestions on maintenance and tuning, A Guide to the Harpsichord is an indispensable companion for both beginning and advanced harpsichordists.

A History of the Harpsichord

A History of the Harpsichord
Author: Edward L. Kottick
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 606
Release: 2003
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780253341662

A History of the Harpsichord brings together for the first time more than 200 photographs, illustrations, and drawings of harpsichords in public museums and private collections throughout Europe the United States. Edward L. Kottick draws on his extensive technical knowledge and experience as a harpsichord builder to detail the changing design, structure, and acoustics of the instrument over seven centuries.Based on painstaking research, the book considers the place of the instrument in society and vividly describes the market forces that brought about changes in its form, decoration, and cultural importance. An accompanying CDincludes performances on several of the historical instruments described and illustrated in the volume, including a 1580 spinett virginal by Martin van der Biest and instruments built by Ruckers and Pleyel. The volume devotes attention to American harpsichord design as well as to present and future uses of the instrument.Also of interestThe History of the PianoforteA Documentary in SoundEva Badura-Skoda0-253-33582-5 HB £37.95

The Harpsichord Stringing Handbook

The Harpsichord Stringing Handbook
Author: Thomas Donahue
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2015-06-11
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1442243457

The harpsichord was the standard keyboard instrument for three centuries before the invention of the piano. It enjoyed a revival in the second half of the twentieth century, but because of the interruption in its history as a more regularly used instrument, many details about its construction are lacking. In The Harpsichord Stringing Handbook, Thomas Donahue integrates available historical evidence and modern physical principles—from both musicological and scientific literature—to provide practical quantitative information about the stringing of this instrument. The Harpsichord Stringing Handbook covers the composition and properties of iron and brass wire, the interrelationship of frequency to string length, safety factors involved with stringing, the scaling of string lengths, the calculation of diameters, and the determination of the transition from iron to brass in mixed-strung instruments. Supplemental topics include the elasticity and plasticity of wire, inharmonicity, tension and stress, and the interpolation of string lengths. Additional material includes data on selected historical harpsichords, absolute diameters of historical gauge numbering systems, a generated list of tensile strength values for historical wire, and sizes and tensile strengths of currently available wire. This book offers specific guidance for instrument makers, restorers, curators, technicians, musicians, kit builders, wire manufacturers, and acousticians, filling in critical details that historical treatises and surviving instruments may not clearly address.

Starting on the Harpsichord

Starting on the Harpsichord
Author: Jean Nandi
Publisher: Bon Gout Publishing Company
Total Pages: 220
Release: 1989
Genre: Music
ISBN:

"Jean Nandi's delightful, informative, & user-friendly 'how-to' book, Starting on the Harpsichord, fills a twenty-year need for an effective tutor designed for the individual whose first musical experience is on a harpsichord. We are fortunate that this first book of its genre is so engaging, clear, & pedagogically imaginative. The book includes charming black & white drawings by Thomas Gordon Smith, an architect, & Mark Farmer, both experienced harpsichord players. The writing style is good-natured, lucid, & conversational throughout. Hand position & rhythmic interpretation all proceed in order of importance, including little examples written by Leonie Jenkins, an orthopedist & harpsichordist who, like the artists listed above, studied with Nandi, a twenty-five-year veteran of harpsichord teaching."--Laurette Goldberg, Notes, Music Library Association Quarterly Journal, December, 1990. "I invite you to read the book Starting on the Harpsichord by Jean Nandi...There has never been such a study that outlines in such good detail how to play the harpsichord...A thorough teaching manual. ...Jean's enthusiasm & her love of the harpsichord has inspired me & others to continue playing & enjoying the harpsichord"...Matthew Redsell, Continuo Magazine, 1989-1990.

The Harpsichord and Clavichord

The Harpsichord and Clavichord
Author: Igor Kipnis
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 571
Release: 2013-04-15
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1135949786

The Harpsichord and Clavichord, An Encyclopedia includes articles on this family of instruments, including famous players, composers, instruments builders, the construction of the instruments, and related terminology. It is the first complete reference on this important family of keyboard instruments. The contributors include major scholars of music and musical instrument history from around the world. It completes the three-volume Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments.

A Guide to Musical Temperament

A Guide to Musical Temperament
Author: Thomas Donahue
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2005
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780810854383

Author Thomas Donahue assembles new information and material from previous sources, providing a comprehensive outline of theories and a historical overview that fills a neglected niche in music and keyboard reference."--Jacket.

Playing the Harpsichord Expressively

Playing the Harpsichord Expressively
Author: Mark Kroll
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2004
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780810850323

This book gives a practical method for playing the harpsichord in a way that was lost when the instrument was marginalized by the piano in the 19th century. Since a thorough knowledge of historical performance practice is such an important aspect of playing this repertoire, excerpts from relevant primary sources are given at the end of many of the lessons.

A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music

A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music
Author: Jeffery Kite-Powell
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2007-08-02
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0253013771

Revised and expanded since it first appeared in 1991, the guide features two new chapters on ornamentation and rehearsal techniques, as well as updated reference materials, internet resources, and other new material made available only in the last decade. The guide is comprised of focused chapters on performance practice issues such as vocal and choral music; various types of ensembles; profiles of specific instruments; instrumentation; performance practice issues; theory; dance; regional profiles of Renaissance music; and guidelines for directors. The format addresses the widest possible audience for early music, including amateur and professional performers, musicologists, theorists, and educators.