Related

IntervalRegisterTimbreArticulation MarksPianoHarpsichordOrganCelesta

The clavichord is the most private instrument in the keyboard group: it controls dynamics, and can even produce vibrato, but it is so quiet you must fall silent to hear it.

Among the three early keyboards it occupies a peculiar position: it removes the harpsichord's limitation (no dynamic control) while paying a price the piano never paid (almost no volume).

⚠️ One conceptual point: "can you keep changing the sound after the key is down?" is an instrument property rarely discussed. - Piano: the hammer leaves at once → nothing can change afterwards. - Harpsichord: the plectrum releases at once → likewise. - Clavichord: the tangent stays pressed → extra pressure after the key is down moves the pitch → vibrato. The effect is called Bebung (German, "trembling") and is a rare after-touch in keyboard playing. It shows that "is there control after the sound has started" is a structural difference — and a different question from "can it control dynamics".

Structure: a tangent strikes from below and stays

Three points:

1. The tangent is both striker and stop. It stays in contact, so the string's speaking length — and hence the pitch — is set by the tangent's position. 2. Pressure after the strike therefore changes pitch → Bebung. Neither a piano nor a harpsichord can do this. 3. Little energy, tiny volume. A tangent cannot deliver much, so the sound barely leaves the room — an instrument you play for yourself.

Bebung: a rare "after-touch"

Range

击弦古钢琴属弦鸣乐器（键盘击弦）。常见音域约 C2–C6（不同形制差别较大）；常用区 C2–C5。它是三种早期键盘里音域较窄、音量最小的一件。

• About C2–C6 depending on the instrument — narrower than a harpsichord and far narrower than a piano.
• The working register is C2–C5; almost all its music sits there, since the top is thinner still.
• A narrow range is not a problem: its repertoire is mainly for teaching and private playing — Bach's sons (C. P. E. and W. F. Bach) wrote extensively for it.

Timbre, and how to hear it

Four cues:

1. Very soft, very close, very private. It is quiet enough that a voice can cover it — never a concert-hall instrument. 2. A soft tone with a fine metallic edge: the tangent's attack is gentler than a piano's and less brittle than a harpsichord's. 3. A very short tail: the tangent keeps damping the string, so the note stops almost at once. 4. Bebung, the one effect no other keyboard here can produce.

Playing techniques

• Touch directly controls dynamics — the same side as the piano, the opposite of the harpsichord.
• Bebung: continued pressure after the key is down moves the pitch.
• Volume limits its setting: private playing, teaching, small chamber music — nothing that must carry.
• Its touch technique is extremely fine. Precisely because it is so quiet, any unevenness is audible — which is why it is regarded as a good instrument for training finger control.

The family

Four keyboards, four different combinations of controllability: the piano and the clavichord control dynamics; the clavichord also has after-touch; the organ's sound can be sustained indefinitely; the harpsichord controls neither, but its short tail keeps figuration clear.

History

Its departure has a different cause from the harpsichord's: the harpsichord lost because it could not control dynamics; the clavichord controls them well and lost because it is too quiet. One round of instrument replacement, two different explanations.

Common misconceptions

• "A clavichord is a small piano." The mechanism differs (tangent versus felt hammer), and it has an ability the piano lacks: after-touch vibrato.
• "It is quiet because it has few strings." The quietness follows from how little energy a tangent can deliver; the string count is similar to a piano's.
• "It has no expression." Its dynamic layering is fine and it adds Bebung — its limitation is volume, not expression.
• "Like a harpsichord, it cannot control dynamics." The opposite: it can; the harpsichord cannot.
• "You can only hear it in museums." Since the 20th century there are copies and modern instruments, and performers record on it today.

Next

Four keyboard entries remain: the organ, the harmonium, the accordion and the harmonica. The last three belong to the free-reed family — and they form a contrast with the organ as aerophones whose vibrating body differs. :::

Sources

• 结构依通行制琴资料：键盘经杠杆驱动一枚铜片（tangent）从下方击弦；铜片击弦后继续抵住弦，同时充当弦的"上端"
• 「击弦古钢琴属弦鸣乐器（键盘击弦）」依 Hornbostel–Sachs 分类
• 「常见音域 C2–C6」依通行乐器资料
• 「铜片持续抵弦这一结构使其能做 Bebung（后触颤音）—— 按键后再改变压力即可让音高微动；但音量极小，只能在小房间内使用」依乐器声学与演奏通识

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.