Symmetrical Keyboard (was: Oldest Musical Score)

Hi, Troubledoor,

Bill Alves forwarded a message from you about a new piano design to the
list last week, apparently when your link contained a picture of it.
Could you describe it? Paul mentioned the keyboard was the same as
pictured here: http://x31eq.com/instrum.htm

I saw this one illustrated in a 1920s advertisement for a piano company!
More
intentionally, though, Sibyl Marcuse describes the same by Johann
Rohleder in 1791, and continues that the design was used by several 19th
century German piano makers; Owen Jorgensen presents it as the "6 over
6" keyboard.

I found a reference to the Rapian Keyboard in one of Paul Vandervoort's
patents (relating to Paul von Janko's keyboard), and managed to scrounge
an issue of Keyboard Magazine with a short feature written by Bob Moog
(p18. Keyboard, Sept. 1989). Kanpei Mutoh's 12-tone arrangement has 5
tiers of
tall, medium size button keys - like the symmetrical arrangements each
tier plays a whole tone scale. Positions are marked on the fallboard. It
looks to have reduced octave span, and part of its reason is natural
finger placement.

While on the subject, I emailed with an instrument builder in WA who is
constructing a strung piano-like keyboard instrument which will allow
for instantaneous retuning, along with vibrato and glissandi. Patent
considerations kept him from describing it any further, but it sounds
very exciting.

Clark