split-key design information?

Hi,

Does anyone have any sources for diagrams showing the internal design of
split-key mechanisms, e.g. in which D# and Eb are distinct, but on an
otherwise "traditional" keyboard? Online sources would be particularly
great, and short of that, books that are still in print!

Thanks,
Kurt

Kurt Bigler wrote:

>Does anyone have any sources for diagrams showing the internal design of
>split-key mechanisms, e.g. in which D# and Eb are distinct, but on an
>otherwise "traditional" keyboard? Online sources would be particularly
>great, and short of that, books that are still in print!

Hi Kurt,

maybe you know this yet; anyway, the treatise "L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica" by Nicola Vicentino contains some drawings being the plans for the construction of the archicembalo, about which has been discussed on this forum in the past. Marco Tiella wrote a paper about his reconstruction of the archicembalo, that he made some years ago; the paper is available here:
http://www.muzykologia.uj.edu.pl/conference/papers/Marco Tiella.pdf
and contains a reproduction of some drawings from Vicentino's treatise, among which the keyboards with their internal layout.
The entire original treatise by Vicentino is available online on the TMI (Thesaurus Musicarum Italicarum):
http://pcm1671.labs.cs.uu.nl:6334/dynaweb/tmiweb/v/vicant/@Generic__BookView;cs=default;ts=default;lang=it
but images are not available yet.
A photo of one of the keyboards, taken from the original treatise, is available here:
http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/e-music/Music_extra.html#music28
(maybe someone already published this link in this forum sometimes in the past).

As you can see, the internal shape of the split keys simply consists in having two regular, although narrow, levers for each split black key, each lever linked to its own devices as for the usual keys, and this is the common system used on the "traditional" keyboards.
I saw a slightly different system on one of the organs of S. Petronio in Bologna, where the split keys consist in small levers coming out of the table above the keyboard, just above the usual black keys, but the split keys are an addition of the XVI Century there (the original organ is dating 1475).

Regards
Leonardo Perretti

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Kurt Bigler <kkb@b...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Does anyone have any sources for diagrams showing the internal
design of
> split-key mechanisms, e.g. in which D# and Eb are distinct, but on
an
> otherwise "traditional" keyboard? Online sources would be
particularly
> great, and short of that, books that are still in print!
>
> Thanks,
> Kurt

It would be good to compare whatever you find with Erv Wilson's
diagrams of his ingeniously simple design for Scott Hackleman's 19-
tone clavichord (from Xenharmonikon #5), on page 6:

http://www.anaphoria.com/xen456.PDF

--George

on 10/29/04 12:48 PM, George D. Secor <gdsecor@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Kurt Bigler <kkb@b...> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Does anyone have any sources for diagrams showing the internal
> design of
>> split-key mechanisms, e.g. in which D# and Eb are distinct, but on
> an
>> otherwise "traditional" keyboard? Online sources would be
> particularly
>> great, and short of that, books that are still in print!
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Kurt
>
> It would be good to compare whatever you find with Erv Wilson's
> diagrams of his ingeniously simple design for Scott Hackleman's 19-
> tone clavichord (from Xenharmonikon #5), on page 6:
>
> http://www.anaphoria.com/xen456.PDF

Yes, indeed, I want to be able to work with that type of keyboard also, as
soon as I can get my hands on one, or hire Norman Henry to build an
instrument that uses one.

For some purposes though, I think I want to stay close to the "traditional"
design so that I can think and reach in a format I am familiar with, with
only discrete modifications applied.

This question originally came up because I have a Neupert harpsichord with
8-foot and 4-foot stops (if those are the right terms when applied to a
harpsichord). I found that I wasn't liking the 4-foot very much and wasn't
using it. Therefore I was looking at doing some restringing and creative
re-use of the 4-foot jacks with some minor keyboard retrofit modifications.
In this case the approach of adding several split keys per octave to the
traditional design seemed the way to go.

However, since then I've discovered that the 4-foot stop is adjustable, not
simply on-off, and as a result I can quickly and simply voice down the
entire 4-foot section to a degree that makes it quite pleasant, and indeed
wonderful. By voicing down both sections I get considerable dynamic
capability and I feel totally transported to the Appalachians with the
wonderful delicate plucking with its wonderful harmonic responsiveness.
[Getting off onto another topic there, though, so perhaps a new subject is
appropriate for any replies to this paragraph.]

Thanks,
Kurt

on 10/29/04 10:10 AM, Leonardo Perretti <dombedos@tele2.it> wrote:

>
>
> Kurt Bigler wrote:
>
>> Does anyone have any sources for diagrams showing the internal design of
>> split-key mechanisms, e.g. in which D# and Eb are distinct, but on an
>> otherwise "traditional" keyboard? Online sources would be particularly
>> great, and short of that, books that are still in print!
>
> Hi Kurt,
>
> maybe you know this yet; anyway, the treatise "L'antica musica
> ridotta alla moderna prattica" by Nicola Vicentino contains some
> drawings being the plans for the construction of the archicembalo,
> about which has been discussed on this forum in the past.

Thanks, I probably missed some of this, or missed the significance of it at
the time.

> Marco
> Tiella wrote a paper about his reconstruction of the archicembalo,
> that he made some years ago; the paper is available here:
> http://www.muzykologia.uj.edu.pl/conference/papers/Marco Tiella.pdf

Ah, wonderful. The space in the url causes a problem, but replacing it with
%20 seems to work, so this URL works better:

http://www.muzykologia.uj.edu.pl/conference/papers/Marco%20Tiella.pdf

And some good pictures there also. I've wanted these pictures ever since I
saw that NY Times article "... Everyone in Tune, Whatever That Means" which
talked about the archicembalo:

http://gfhandel.org/bleissa/pipe/nyt.htm

> and contains a reproduction of some drawings from Vicentino's
> treatise, among which the keyboards with their internal layout.
> The entire original treatise by Vicentino is available online on the
> TMI (Thesaurus Musicarum Italicarum):
> http://pcm1671.labs.cs.uu.nl:6334/dynaweb/tmiweb/v/vicant/@Generic__BookView;c
> s=default;ts=default;lang=it
> but images are not available yet.

Yes, and without knowledge of the language, a picture is worth an infinite
number of words.

> A photo of one of the keyboards, taken from the original treatise, is
> available here:
> http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/e-music/Music_extra.html#m
> usic28
> (maybe someone already published this link in this forum sometimes in
> the past).
>
> As you can see, the internal shape of the split keys simply consists
> in having two regular, although narrow, levers for each split black
> key, each lever linked to its own devices as for the usual keys, and
> this is the common system used on the "traditional" keyboards.

Yes, that's what I was guessing. The details of exactly how the key drop
was achieved with a split black key still remains unrevealed by these
diagrams (unless I missed something), and although reasonable guesses seem
possible, I'm still wishing I had a diagram showing how that was handled.

> I saw a slightly different system on one of the organs of S. Petronio
> in Bologna, where the split keys consist in small levers coming out
> of the table above the keyboard, just above the usual black keys,

Yes, I've see that too, perhaps in pictures posted on this list.

> but
> the split keys are an addition of the XVI Century there (the original
> organ is dating 1475).

Thanks a bunch,
Kurt

>
> Regards
> Leonardo Perretti

on 10/29/04 10:10 AM, Leonardo Perretti <dombedos@tele2.it> wrote:

> Kurt Bigler wrote:
>>> Does anyone have any sources for diagrams showing the internal design of
>> split-key mechanisms, e.g. in which D# and Eb are distinct, but on an
>> otherwise "traditional" keyboard? Online sources would be particularly
>> great, and short of that, books that are still in print!
>
> Hi Kurt,
>
> maybe you know this yet; anyway, the treatise "L'antica musica
> ridotta alla moderna prattica" by Nicola Vicentino contains some
> drawings being the plans for the construction of the archicembalo,
> about which has been discussed on this forum in the past. Marco
> Tiella wrote a paper about his reconstruction of the archicembalo,
> that he made some years ago; the paper is available here:
> http://www.muzykologia.uj.edu.pl/conference/papers/Marco Tiella.pdf
> and contains a reproduction of some drawings from Vicentino's
> treatise, among which the keyboards with their internal layout.
> The entire original treatise by Vicentino is available online on the
> TMI (Thesaurus Musicarum Italicarum):
> http://pcm1671.labs.cs.uu.nl:6334/dynaweb/tmiweb/v/vicant/@Generic__BookView;c
> s=default;ts=default;lang=it
> but images are not available yet.
> A photo of one of the keyboards, taken from the original treatise, is
> available here:
> http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/e-music/Music_extra.html#m
> usic28
> (maybe someone already published this link in this forum sometimes in
> the past).
>
> As you can see, the internal shape of the split keys simply consists
> in having two regular, although narrow, levers for each split black
> key, each lever linked to its own devices as for the usual keys, and
> this is the common system used on the "traditional" keyboards.
> I saw a slightly different system on one of the organs of S. Petronio
> in Bologna, where the split keys consist in small levers coming out
> of the table above the keyboard, just above the usual black keys, but
> the split keys are an addition of the XVI Century there (the original
> organ is dating 1475).

Very interesting how the additional black keys are put between E and F and
between B and C. That solves the problem I was anticipating of wanting to
be able to split the F key. Probably better to add the black key rather
than split the natural. I'd probably use the alternate position (the black
key between E and F) for the 7/4 above G, and then use F for the pure fifth
below C.

-Kurt