@home | inside: the harpsichord

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Күн бұрын

The Brook Street Band's Carolyn Gibley shows you inside the harpsichord and explains how it works. Illustrated with pieces by Rameau and Maurice Greene
00:00 Rameau: La Joyeuse
01:12 introduction to Carolyn's harpsichord
01:40 Piano action
02:46 inside the harpsichord
03:53 harpsichord plectrum and dampers
04:35 how the strings are plucked
05:17 levers and 4' strings
06:06 tone and volume
07:04 set-up for next piece explained
07:57 short piece by Maurice Greene
Recorded as part of the „Brook Street Band at home“ series
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Пікірлер: 60

@alexandero9936 2 жыл бұрын

One of my dreams is to own my very own harpsichord, they just sound so beautiful and majestic.

@philipbay1548 Жыл бұрын

I have several which I will happily sell to you!

@alexandero9936 Жыл бұрын

@@philipbay1548 Buying a harpsichord isn't the only issue. I would need space for it. I'm 16 man I live with my parents

@Lifecomesfromwithin Жыл бұрын

You not only need space for it it requires maintenance. Sometimes the replacement of a set of old plastic jacks. I have an old harpsichord that's not quite in playing condition and I don't know if I want to try to sell it or refurbish it. It needs a whole new set of jacks and it has one 8 ft + one 4 ft set of strings I want to turn it into two 8-foot and the range isn't really big enough but I can't do anything about that except get or make a different one. I want to make a tangentenflugel it was a type of early piano action

@SamLamingWingsuit Ай бұрын

Look up spinetts - Mini Harpsichord : ) All the best!

@RightHereRightNow00100 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing how a Harsichord works, thats really neat that it plucks the strings.

@thebrookstreetband3664 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, and glad you enjoyed the film.

@Lifecomesfromwithin Жыл бұрын

It originated from an early zither that was just strings stretched over a box plucked with two feathers held in the hand. They created a keyboard mechanism to make playing easier and the instrument had no real official name or music at first but played along with other stringed instruments and rolled the cords like they did. Traditional continuo music is based on that, taking the chord structure of the piece and arpeggiating it

@elizabethfletcher6029 4 жыл бұрын

Lovely to see you and hear your own harpsichord. Thank you!

@thebrookstreetband3664 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for listening Liz. Do keep checking in for more films!

@petesmith2837 3 жыл бұрын

Just found this! An excellent introduction, exactly what I've been looking for- thank you.

@thebrookstreetband3664 3 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful, and thank you for watching!

@solly988 3 жыл бұрын

Expertly done! Very nice

@peter.g6 6 ай бұрын

Amazing explanation of how a harpsichord works, thank you.

@thebrookstreetband3664 6 ай бұрын

You're very welcome!

@EoinTremont 3 жыл бұрын

That is a beautiful harpsichord! I’d like to own one someday!

@thebrookstreetband3664 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Eoin. We're very lucky to know Alan Gotto, who made this wonderful instrument for Carolyn Gibley, and who looks after our harpsichord needs when we're recording, or working in East Anglia.

@robertcook2572 Жыл бұрын

Take heart! My inquiries seem to indicate that a harpsichord is less eye-wateringly expensive than a piano of similar quality.

@robertcook2572 Жыл бұрын

When I was a callow youth, I used to think I was clever and 'edgy' by professing my liking for these left-field pluckers. Fifty years later, I still love harpsichords - and all their cousins - and I long ago realised that I am neither clever nor edgy; they're just wonderful instruments worthy of celebration.

@bazelarobert144 3 жыл бұрын

thank you so much,very professional explanation and thank you for lovely music

@thebrookstreetband3664 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Robert!

@guitarstringman7403 6 ай бұрын

You play beautifully! And a nice description of how the harpsichord works. I always thought the instrument had a plucking sound, but had no idea how that sound was produced.

@thebrookstreetband3664 6 ай бұрын

Glad you liked it!

@M_m.aang.uxz.1902 6 ай бұрын

Nice

@thebrookstreetband3664 3 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@JosuePineda-lz7jd 2 ай бұрын

Nice video,blak keys looks nice in contrast to the # keys😊

@jungorgan 3 ай бұрын

Thank you for the great explanation!

@thebrookstreetband3664 3 ай бұрын

You're very welcome!

@stevef.8041 6 ай бұрын

How enlightening! And spot on playing!

@thebrookstreetband3664 6 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@rocketblaster8701 2 жыл бұрын

i was wondering how this worked. i was surprised that the strings really were plucked (they sounded like they were plucked to me but i pushed that thought aside since i didn't know how it actually worked or how that would work)

@srinivasanp4930 Жыл бұрын

🌹👌👍🏆 Super 🙏🙏🙏🙏

@thebrookstreetband3664 Жыл бұрын

thank you!

@andrearusina3523 10 ай бұрын

Great video! The short piece by Greene is very nice, how can I find the sheet music?

@KPpivot Жыл бұрын

What was the Maurice Greene song called?

@Lifecomesfromwithin Жыл бұрын

I wonder what the strings are made from

@thebrookstreetband3664 Жыл бұрын

The strings are a mixture of brass and iron, the brass being used for the bass strings

@arsmelancholiae 3 жыл бұрын

Is Maurice Greene a baroque composer? His music sound baroque but, at the same time, very modern.

@thebrookstreetband3664 3 жыл бұрын

Maurice Greene's dates are 1696 - 1755 so, yes, he is from the baroque period.

@arsmelancholiae 3 жыл бұрын

@@thebrookstreetband3664 Thanks! He reminds me of Thomas Arne.

@arsmelancholiae 3 жыл бұрын

@@thebrookstreetband3664 Thanks! He reminds me of Thomas Arne.

@ZteveW Жыл бұрын

So is it safe to say that if one can play the piano, that person can also play the harpsichord?

@thebrookstreetband3664 Жыл бұрын

It's a very different technique, but yes the notes are same same. Harpsichord keys are narrower than piano keys and are not weighted, so feel very different.

@Lifecomesfromwithin Жыл бұрын

Yes the feel is very different. I played nothing but a harpsichord for years and the mistake notes are just as loud as the notes you want. On a piano a mistaken note is a lot of times softer but on the harpsichord they would ring right out just as loud as everything else and it makes me scared to make a mistake so it made me play a lot better. I play piano presently but there's so much effort involved in throwing the Hammers and kind of slamming the key that you don't have with the harpsichord which saves your energy and focus for the music.

@angryasfuck6662 Жыл бұрын

Hannibal was on to something

@phileo_ss 2 жыл бұрын

Lovely video and music. One little suggestion: it would have been nicer if your voice were recorded a bit louder.

@ralphralpherson9441 Жыл бұрын

Interesting... I knew harpsichords plucked the string but I never knew how the jacks worked. I imagine back in the 1700s there were an awful lot of harpsichord plectrums that broke or snapped off given the natural materials. I guess "harpsichord repairman" was a good job to have. LOL

@thebrookstreetband3664 Жыл бұрын

Yes, guess it was, and still is!

@Lifecomesfromwithin Жыл бұрын

Johann Sebastian Bach had drawers filled with crowfeather's to replace the plectra and they didn't break too fast. People brought him crow feathers when they would find a dead one or kill one. The traditional little wire type spring for the back of the Jack was made out of the hair of a wild boar and a very similar substitute is fishing line

@thebrookstreetband3664 Жыл бұрын

@@Lifecomesfromwithin thank you for this information. And of course today, plectra are often made from delrin

@Lifecomesfromwithin Жыл бұрын

@thebrookstreetband3664 yes very true I used Delrin plectra also. Bach used to pick the largest Crow quills that would fit and cut them almost flat at the end so they had as much strength as possible and I think they are harder than Delrin by a little bit that way. I want to get a wooden Jack replacement that uses Crow quills on my harpsichord someday

@Lifecomesfromwithin Жыл бұрын

Bach may have helped other people with their harpsichords like a repairman but most people pretty much had to tune it and maintain it themselves. Part of owning a harpsichord was knowing how to tune it restring it and make your plectra. Bach would sometimes ask the maker for help being Rucker's,

@hori166 3 жыл бұрын

Great video, but I would explain why the two 8' registers sound differently. Nothing is said about the coupling mechanism or the knobs, and how it would sound with the two 8's together, and then with the 4', and how to dialogue between the two keyboards. A mention of the Goldbergs might also be beneficial here. No explanation of the buff stop was given. Your instrument has a beautiful sound it has probably matured over time.

@thebrookstreetband3664 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your suggestions. All good ideas, and perhaps for another video, going into more detail for a more specialist audience.

@cannadineboxill-harris2983 2 жыл бұрын

Hello, why couldn't you Try Remaking A Daddy Grand Piano by putting on 88 Tuning Forks like what you did on an Upright Piano, Please do the Same Thing on a Daddy Grand Piano For Most of us KZfaqrs, It will be a much Better Idea For us so we can Try and See and Hear It Thank You.

@kenansari Жыл бұрын

horrible color

@Lifecomesfromwithin Жыл бұрын

Modern reproduction makers are into a lot of paint these days which is semi traditional. What would you prefer? If you put together a harpsichord kit you could finish it however you want

@kenansari Жыл бұрын

@@Lifecomesfromwithin i prefer the rainbow colors.

@Lifecomesfromwithin Жыл бұрын

@@kenansari well it is rainbow colors actually all it's missing is green

@Lifecomesfromwithin Жыл бұрын

@@kenansari I prefer the look of the original Virginal of Queen Elizabeth the first