Historic Pianos

One of the perks of going back to school is you get access to university resources. When I was deciding whether to choose Auckland, one big point in their favor was a significant collection of historic keyboard instruments. I was recently granted access to spend some time playing keyboards that are relevant to the period I am studying.

An important component of my research is a phenomenological approach, which is essentially a fancy word for an immersion experience. By playing and studying specific four-hand piano scores, I am attempting to understand what it was like to be an amateur pianist in the first half of the nineteenth century. The ability to play the music on the pianos that these players would have owned was necessary for understanding aspects such as space, sound, and feel. Of course, in addition to the  academic benefits for my research, it was a thrilling experience from the perspective of being a pianist.

The piano that was most relevant for my area of study was a replication of an 1826 Congrad Graf grand from Vienna. Viennese pianos were known for their lightweight action. I have a 1914 Broadwood upright from London at home (came over to NZ on a boat!) and the difference was immediately noticeable. The keyboard on the Graf replica I played had 6 and a half octaves, making it about 18 keys shorter than a modern keyboard. This means there was enough space for two people to play duets (my area of research), although I reckon hoop skirts might have made it a tighter squeeze!

The keyboard on this might have been shorter than modern ones but this was balanced by the fact that the piano had six pedals. Modern options have either two or three pedals, depending on whether they are American or European model based.
Working left to right, the pedals are:

1.  a soft pedal (which reduces the number of strings struck by the hammers, standard on modern pianos)
2.  second from the left is unknown but appeared to be another option for reducing overall volume
3.  a bassoon pedal (which produces a buzzing sound to emulate the double reed instrument on the lower half of the keyboard)
4. a lute pedal (which makes the sound rather thin and wispy sounding)
5. a damper pedal (keeps the dampers off the string so the sound continues until the key is released or the strings stop vibrating, also standard on modern pianos)
6.  and my favorite......what is called a Janissary pedal, for producing percussive sounds! This became popular when a particular trend in 19th Century pop music was to play military and Turkish music, which obviously requires something more exciting than mere piano sounds :)

I had quite a fun time experimenting with the different sounds you could produce. I discovered that early 20th Century novelty piano music sounds great with the Janissary pedal, haha!

I also got to play a Clavichord for the first time in my keyboarding life. The Clavichord was a small, quiet pre-cursor to the piano. It became a popular alternative to the harpsichord because it allowed the player to produce a [small] range of dynamic contrast. They were small enough to be portable, with some models built to be contained within a carry case.

Pictures below are all photos of keyboards in the University of Auckland historic keyboard collection. I know details of some of the keyboards but not all. 

The Graf replica 

Brief excerpt of Dizzy Fingers by Zez Confrey with

Janissary pedal

Replica of a late 18th Century piano
Knee levers under the keyboard rather than pedals

Original grand from late 19th Century (Brahms era)

The clavichord I played

Beautifully decorated harpsichords: