Claviers Baroques Harpsichord Expert


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Be a harpsichord expert! Tips, terms, *buyable* bibliography, repairs, maintenance and technical stuff (a lot of this is still under construction, we are writing as fast as we can...)

Tips and FAQ's -- including how to shop for a harpsichord
Terms and jargon
Bibliography
Tuning and Maintenance
Repertoire!
Moving a harpsichord
coming soon -- Amplifying a harpsichord
Technical stuff -- tool sharpening, stringing schedules, that sort of thing.

Tips
- Harpsichord and early keyboard FAQ's. Your basic what-is-a-harpsichord stuff.
- How to shop for a harpsichord
  - How much do they cost?
  - Is that used harpsichord such a bargain? How to check out a cheap used harpsichord -- or any harpsichord, for that matter.
  - what sort of instrument should I buy/rent and other relevant things (from Martha Beth Lewis -- she's talking about pianos, mostly, but the same principals apply).
  - Recipes -- it had to happen!
- On how the play the harpsichord, a crash course for pianists
  - the difference between piano touch and harpsichord touch, from piano and harpsichord super-teacher Martha Beth Lewis.
  - adapting piano arrangements for use on the harpsichord
- In praise of the short-octave bass
- On finding a good teacher, again from Martha Beth Lewis.
- How often to tune? A consideration based on 30 years of observation.
Terms
- Harpsichord jargon with definitions.
- Helmholtz' system of naming notes on the keyboard.
- Parlez-vous/habla/sprechen sie harpsichord? A multi-lingual table of harpsichord terms in English, French, Italian, Spanish and German.

Bibliography -- Good books about harpsichords. Most of these are available through on-line and conventional booksellers or in libraries. The pictures at the right will take to to Amazon where you can buy one for your own. Or for a friend, they all make very nice gifts.
We have received an estate of books on and of music to list for sale. Books and sheet music for organ, piano, harpsichord, also vocal and choral. Lots of interesting stuff here, we are listing is as fast as we can. Here it is:

	Harpsichord Owners Guide: A Manual For Buyers And Owners, Edward L. Kottick, 180 pages, University of North Carolina Press; paperback ISBN: 0807843881 (rev. Oct. 1992) around $27.50 USD; hardcover ISBN: 0807817457 (rev. October 1987) around $50 USD. This is an excellent survey of the harpsichord, its action, history, selection and maintenance. Buy and read this before you buy that harpsichord!
	Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making, Frank T. Hubbard, 364 pages, Harvard Univ Press; hardcover ISBN: 0674888456 (June 1972) around $45 USD. An overview of historical harpsichords -- national styles, famous historic builders, historic methods and materials, that sort of thing. Frank's sources include contemporary accounts and inventories as well as modern research on surviving historical instruments. This is the first comprehensive modern work on this topic and still remains the best. Although more research has changed some of Frank's conclusions, this is still the starting place for all of us present-day harpsichord builders
	*The Modern Harpsichord,* 20th Century Instruments and Their Makers, Wolfgang Zuckermann, October House, New York, 255 pages. This 20th century harpsichord builder and inventor of the harpsichord kit candidly describes and assesses the harpsichords built by his contemporaries. Some hot stuff in here, worth a read. Out of print but occasionally available from used book dealers and may be found in libraries.
	*Harpsichord Technique : A Guide to Expressivity*, Nancy Metzger, Musica Dulce; ISBN: 0962493414; 2nd spi edition (January 1998) around $35 USD (with companion cassette tape). How to play the things. Not easy to find these days, but there are usually a few used copies out there.
	*Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord 1440-1840, Donald H. Boalch, 824 pages, Oxford Univ Pr; ASIN: 019318429X; 3rd edition (December 1995). Most recent edition of the* standard reference work. Pretty heavy reading, but in the harpsichord world the way you end an argument is, "Boalch says..."

Tuning and Maintenance

How to tune.
What are temperaments and what to do about them?
The Den Ciul patented fast touch-up -- it may be the only tuning you'll ever need to do!
How to replace a string
How to find the correct replacement wire.
How to voice (carve) a plectrum (quill).
Some thoughts on soundboard cleaning and other random things.

TUNING METERS!!!! Life is much simpler if you have a good meter. Well, if your life includes tuning instruments, anyway. These are the meters we use and heartily recommend. You can order them below. Note: These links go to suppliers. These guys buy in quantity and can sell them to you for cheaper than we can buy them wholesale. But don't worry, you won't be trapped into buying anything. Go ahead and check them out, and if you don't want to buy, or don't want to buy now, just hit the 'back' button or the "x" on your browser.

	Korg CA-30 and very similar CA40 -- Your basic vanilla harpsichord (or anything) tuning meter. Does equal temperament only, but will do every note on your h'chord. You can tweak to any temperament from there, and way more convenient than a tuning fork. Click on the link to the right for more info and/or to order.	Korg CA-30 from Gear1 Music (ALA) Chromatic tuner
	Korg OT-120 (OT as in Orchestral Tuner). Does equal temperament, of course, and 11 other temperaments including Valotti, Kirnberger, Kellner and Werkmeister. Click on the link to the right for more info and/or to order..	Korg OT-120 from SpringdaleMusic-dot-com
	Korg MT-40 -- Tuner and metronome in one. Equal temperament only, but really handy at rehearsals. Tap-in feature lets you tap the tempo, it tells you what the metronome marking is. Click on the link to the right for more info and/or to order.	Korg MT-40 from Shoreline Music (AmFulf)

Technical stuff
- The Steve Lamantia's D&S Scary-Sharp (tm) Method. Get your edged tools REALLY sharp, I mean, S*H*A*R*P! With sandpaper! A gift of rec.wordworking.
- Stringing schedules: a library of stringing schedules for various harpsichords and clavichords
- Localized anti-gravity: the go-bar deck.
- You can never have too many clamps.
- Historically informed glue -- hot hide glue, the choice of really old masters.

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last updated March 14, 2009