What do you think of when the word hammer comes to mind?
A tool?
Rapper/dancer, MC Hammer?
A piano?
You may be thinking, “What’s a hammer have to do with a piano?”
Good question.
Hammers are mechanisms inside the keyboard that play a crucial role in its structure and sound. At times, we can forget about them because they are inside the instrument, but they are still an essential part of this big wood contraption. Without the hammers, it would not be able to produce the sound we hear today.
Before the piano was invented, the harpsichord was the main keyboard instrument. It produced sounds by hitting keys, which would strike a device called “jacks” that were in the harpsichord. The strings would be plucked in order to make sound, and a “jack rail” would then control how many strings were plucked at a time. This was what adjusted the volume.
Here’s a simple demonstration of how the jack works:
Bartolomeo Cristofori
The piano eventually came into play in the 1700’s. It was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Italy because many people were unsatisfied with the lack of control they had over the volume of the harpsichord. Cristofori switched the plucking mechanism for a hammer in the 1700’s. He developed an “escapement” mechanism, which allowed a hammer to fall after hitting the strings, as well as a dampening mechanism on the jack so that the strings would not sound when it was not being hit. His invention completely changed the sound of the keyboard instrument. It seems like a very minute detail- silencing the string; however, it makes a big difference. There’s a less abrupt sound, and a nice resonation. All of these characteristics makes the instrument more appealing to the ear.
Closer look of the hammers inside
Cristofori also developed another mechanism that improved the striking action. He used what he named, a “slide-slip.” The device (which was activated by a hand stop) would shift the mechanism so that it would only hit one string instead of three. This is where the soft pedal or una corda originated from.
The head of the hammer was also covered by a piece of felt. This allowed the tool to be protected, and not clash into the strings while keys were played. They were originally covered with layer of leather; however it was changed, most likely because it wasn’t fully developed until the mid 1800’s. The felt material allowed pianists to produce a softer sound, compared to the harpsichord, which was sharper and more abrupt. It had larger gradations in dynamics, which previous keyboard instruments did not have. As the felt quality gradually increased over time, modern pianos developed better tone, which gave room for more expression.
http://www.piano.christophersmit.com/hammer.html
So why are the hammers in the piano even that important? Is it even considered a technology? I would say so! The development of the hammer revolutionized the keyboard instrument. Before, pianists had no control over the volume at which they could play. As a pianist, that would have really bothered me, because the most important thing to have is a large range in dynamics. With the earlier keyboard instruments, the volume could only be controlled with the jack rail, and that still didn’t give much range in dynamics. The articulation of fingers was essentially the only thing that could control the sound and tone. It didn’t matter how much weight you put into the keys.
With the development of the hammer mechanism, pianists were able to change the sound and volume with the weight of their arms. This allowed them to produce a much bigger range of dynamics. It’s the reason why we are able to play a vast range of fortes and pianos today.
The EWI, otherwise known as an electronic wind instrument, is a technological invention that has made a huge impact on many different genres of music and has a recent history that is often overlooked.
The History of the Instrument:
It all started in 1981, with inventor Nyle Steiner. In its first stages, the EWI was made by hand, and was essentially an analog controller that didn’t have very many sounds other than the ones built in. The top of the EWI contains sensors inside the mouthpiece that measures how much wind is being blown into the instrument and would change the volume. The front of the instrument was made of non-movable buttons/parts on the front. On the back close to the mouthpiece, there is a series of metal rollers that would allow the user to control the octave register with their thumb.
The front of the EWIThe back of the EWI
Shortly after being created, its increasing popularity caused some of the users to carry lots of extra equipment in order to create extra sounds as well as cords that made the it compatible with other synthesizers. The solution to that problem came when Steiner integrated the MIDI box into the EWI in 1985. This allowed the it to be more compatible with commonly used samplers and mimicked any real sound the user wanted to make. That is why the instrument itself was so versatile, including it’s ability to program different fingerings (for brass instruments or saxophone) that are more familiar to users.
Once Steiner was no longer able to make the EWI’s by hand, he went to Akai Professional who were already working on their own digital sampler at the time with music instrument company Electroharmonix, and made a deal for the prototype to be mass produced. It continued to be revised over the years to improve its technological abilities and playing ability. The most recent model, the Akai EWI 5000 was revealed in 2014, and even contains its own soundboard to change reverb, delay, chorus, and pitches. It features the same button/octave mechanics as the original but in a much slimmer form containing more advanced technology, and more patch sounds.
Another example would include my favorite piece featuring the EWI: Original Rays on Michael Brecker’s Michael Brecker (1987). It is also plugged into an Oberheim Xpander (a six voice keyless interval generator/analog synthesizer). The notes that are being played on the EWI are marked as pink, and the color coated chunks mark each time the Oberheim Xpander generates a new set of six intervals harmonizing the main note.
One last example, just because Michael Brecker is that awesome, is the song Itsbynne Reel on Don’t Try this at Home (1988). It showcases the EWI in a different context as described in the liner notes by George Varga: “The opening section, ‘Itsbynne Reel’ begins with a vigorous traditional Irish-reel-cum bluegrass duet between Brecker on EWI and violinist O’Connor before leading into a driving, harmonized vamp…” It’s not the typical setting for an electronic instrument with violin, but it totally works and that is the best part. The EWI is not just limited to jazz or fusion music, it can go anywhere if it fits the context. I also highly recommend listening to the rest of the track, it’s quite unbelievable.
EWI in the context of contemporary music: Although the EWI became more popular among other users, more artists became critical over its legitimacy in music after Michael Brecker didn’t use the it as often in the 1990’s. Despite that, there are a lot of musicians that continued to use it at a very high level, one of them being Bob Mintzer. There is a group called the Yellowjackets that features him on the saxophone and on a more recent model of the instrument. One of my favorite snippets of the group is them performing in Stockholm in 2009, showcasing the amount of technical ability that can be achieved while being musical and assimilating vocabulary from the blues/jazz.
EWI as its own instrument:
As awesome as the EWI can sound, people often mistake it as being too similar to being able to play an acoustic instrument, specifically the saxophone, clarinet and flute. As described in an article regarding technique and expressivity on EWI, the reason why the it is incredible is because it requires its own technical mastery, completely separate from any other instrument. That is why people often experiment with the EWI, but do not get past the early stages. One major difference is that the buttons are touch sensitive, as opposed to physical finger buttons that can be pressed down or tone holes that can be covered as well. It is essential that the finger movement is clean and precise. If users are not paying attention, their fingers can be easily touching buttons and swirling between notes that were not intended. Another challenging concept is the touch sensitive thumb roller for the octave register. It is not the same as producing the upper and lower harmonics on an acoustic instrument. If users aren’t careful, the thumb can easily roll quickly between octaves and creates a huge whirlpool of morphed unintentional sounds. There are also seven/eight octaves on the instrument, which is a lot more than usual acoustical instruments are accustomed to having. Figuring out how to properly incorporate this huge range on the instrument into music can be very challenging as well. The continuing capabilities of the EWI include pitch bend, vibrato, and glissandos is not as easy to use in context as users might think. The mouthpiece is also made of hard rubber, which can feel much different than actively vibrating a reed or buzzing in a brass mouthpiece. As an EWI 5000 user myself, I absolutely love the instrument, but the technical challenges are certainly apparent.
EWI and its place in music today:
One issue that the EWI ran into at the beginning of its development is that it was considered as a replacement for 80’s jazz/pop saxophone. This limited the usage and its credibility to be continually used in other contexts. I believe that the EWI should be treated as its own instrument and should be assimilated into any musical context of which is appropriate. Considering that it is somewhat like a technological version of what an acoustic wind instrument, it is very unique and has a futuristic/contemporary feeling to it. It can certainly push the boundaries of what is possible in music and can also yield to the creation of other music niches/genres in the future.
One early afternoon, Amber settles down at the library and opens up her email tab; the top thread reads “Reminder: Film Music Draft due tomorrow”. She immediately opens up Pro Tools (audio production software) and delved into her scoring session. As a student film composer, she has been working with audio production softwares such as Logic Pro and Pro Tools for a few years now, producing brilliant music; yet many film composers have been utilizing the audio technology without fully understanding its history and all the endeavors that have gone into creating and continuously perfecting these audio production softwares. When did musicians and engineers conceive of this idea? How did this technology come into existence? Why was this important to the development of the film scoring industry? Moreover, how did this invention influence the way film composers create music today?
Interestingly, film music (soundtrack) as we know today was primarily performed live at movie theatres up until the 1930s– the advent of music synchronization to celluloid made it possible for film music to be a part of the viewing experience without the live accompaniment of the instrument ensemble. Since then, composers such as Max Steiner and Alfred Newman have been finessing the narrative power of music by creating impressive scores. This process, though, has made the director-composer collaboration a bit cumbersome: the director would either have face-to-face discussions and live experiments with the composer in front of a piano, or fully entrust the composer with the task of creating effective music for his or her film.
Thanks to UC Berkeley graduates Evan Brooks and Peter Gotcher, Pro Tools was first launched in 1991 as an audio editing software. Pro Tools was indeed very much limited by computers’ hard drive capacity at the time. Therefore, as computers became more and more powerful, the audio editing software gained true advantage given that its multi-track system allowed more and more tracks to be edited at the same time.
However, without proper input, Pro Tools would only serve as an editing software; i.e, composers would still have to book an orchestra to play their music, and then transfer the recording into Pro Tools for the sake of editing. As a result, the advent of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and virtual instruments allowed composers to experiment with numerous options of sound textures and effects in real time by connecting the MIDI keyboard to their computer and pressing the keys to play the selected virtual instrument . What does this all mean? Well, it means that the process of film scoring has been improved in two significant ways:
Directors no longer need to meet up with composers on a regular basis in order to discuss the progress of the music.
Composers now have a choice to either render their music through the audio production softwares, or continue to record live musicians as composers did before.
Moreover, companies began to create expressive virtual instruments by programming customized features such as attack, vibrato, and frequency range in order to further imitate the sound of real instruments, granting composers the freedom to create a score with just the MIDI keyboard and an audio production software (such as Pro Tools) without the complications of recording a real orchestra.
After she recorded herself playing the violin part on the MIDI keyboard through Pro Tools, Amber decided to add some expression to the MIDI output by fiddling with the vibrato settings. As she was using a MIDI knob to adjust the amount of vibrato that came out from the string section, a strange thought occurred to her, and she wondered: “What would have happened if Wagner had Pro Tools to play with?”
Throughout time, musical instruments have always been played with some part of the body. Whether it is creating vibrations from the lips like brass players do, creating vibrations with different types of objects in their hands like percussionists, or even just physical bowing strings, musical instruments have this physical attribution to it. Even the littlest touch like a piano still has some sense touching something to produce sound. As musicians, we associate people to their body parts and it becomes this cliche click that goes around in the music world. Brass players are going to have big, puffy lips, strings players are going to have calluses on their fingers, or even percussionists may always be tapping something. However what if the instrument does not require any type of physical touch? What if one can produce a sound by just moving their hands? This becomes a new, inventive category and the starting point for electronic musical instruments. In the 1920s, an instrument called the theremin was invented and became a major impact in the world of electronic instruments.
History
The theremin was invented in 1920 by a Russian physicist named Lev Termen or better known as Leon Theremin. He first discovered this by researching the density of gases. He then created a device to measure the density. He put in a meter to reflect the density as well as a whistling device that would change pitch according to the variation of densities. Theremin then discovered that his hands had an effect on the pitch because of the manipulation of the electromagnetic field. He played around with it until he could play a melody with it and told his fellow co-workers. He then went on the complete this project and constructed this instrument. The final product finished with having two antennas, one being placed vertically and the other being placed horizontally, connected to two different circuits. Both these antennas have an electrical field around. By using both hands, the right hand is able to manipulate pitch and while the left hand controls the volume.
Most people probably have heard what a theremin sounds like but they just have not realized it. There are lots of old movies classics like “The Lost Weekend”, “Spellbound”, some science-fiction movies, or even recently a movie called “First Man” that displays the theremin in all sorts of ways. Albert Glinsky, author of Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage, describes it as “this squealing, wailing sound that sometimes goes along with the violins and creates this eerie sound”. In Alfred Hitchcock’s “Spellbound”, the theremin was prevalent throughout the score of the film. In these two examples, the first one of displays the theremin in a very haunting way. The first example starts with this wavy, eerie sound fits this haunting mood of the movie. It fits the complements what is going on in the scene. The second example is the main theme to “Spellbound”. The interesting part about this one is that the theremin starts with the theme. It becomes first melodic sounding instrument one hears when listening to this movie theme. It is then contrasted by these long lines of the strings. This sound just becomes so refreshing to here after knowing what all these typical orchestral instruments sound like.
One of my favorite examples to display this great, unique sound actually comes from the soundtrack of “First Man”. “First Man” a movie that features the life of Neil Armstrong.There is a scene in the movie where he puts on music while in space and that song is called “Lunar Rhapsody”. “Lunar Rhapsody” is from a record called Music Out of the Moon and it features then famous theremin player Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman(who also played in “Spellbound). It was released in April 1947 and it became one of the best selling theremin records. “Lunar Rhapsody” features this “squealing” yet warm sound, soothing sound. The theme is so melodic and it shows off that the theremin is more than this sound effect.
In the end, what makes an instrument an instrument is the sound it can produce. It does not matter whether it is as physical like a drum set player or technical like a harp player. The theremin requires no physical touch and has been on many soundtracks or studio records that have been a profound impact on music culture. In today music world, Moog produces theremins that are well more advanced than the old ones and has become one of their best-selling instruments. It is interesting to see that it all started with project in a lab and it transformed to one of the most unique instruments today.
Electricity in Organs is one of the most innovative technologies to ever happen to organists in the modern day. It allows the organist many opportunities for improvement in both the ability to practice and in the ability to perform.
There are a few terms that the reader should know. An organ’s ”bellows” are similar to that of a bellow with which you would fan a flame in a fireplace. These bellows produce wind to follow through the wind trunks, which are pipes for the air to go through, to arrive at the pipes to produce the sound we hear. The next term is ”stops” which are the individual sounds that can be combined to make the ”normal” sound of an organ. The keyboards of an organ have a ”pluck” which is a slight resistance in the movement of the key from the normal position to the depressed position. This resistance is the opening of a passageway that the air follows to reach the intended pipe to make the harmony or melodic line desired.
Diagram of organ bellow and its route to the pipes
Before electricity’s use in organs, an organist would practice by use of one of 2 methods. First is hiring a person or two (or as required) to pump the bellows of the organ to supply wind for the pipes to speak/make a sound. This method of practice was not the most desirable as you would have to pay the so-called, bellow treader(s) to pump the bellows and also as a result of practicing in the Church during this time, the organist would have to work in a cold environment or pay for some system of heating in the building. The other style of practice was to use an instrument that did not require winding, such as a harpsichord or clavichord, or could supply wind of its own, such as a harmonium. This style of practicing was better for two reasons; it did not require the hiring of bellow treaders and also would not require additional heating beyond what the home’s normal livable temperature would have been.
Pedal Clavichord
While these two styles of practicing allowed for excellent music making during that time and a way for the organist to develop his/her technique, both had their disadvantages: the cost of practice time or not hearing the intended instrument’s sound. With the use of electricity in organs, Organists are now allowed to practice without the aid of bellow treaders by application of electric blowers/heavy duty fans or missing out on the sounds of the organ on which they intend to play.
Just as important is the use of electricity to recall combinations of stops at any point in time to accomplish a specific sound to assist the expression of the music and the organist. The sounds can be anything the organist desires to hear in regards to pitch level and dynamics. Olivier Messiaen used this feature of organs to employ intriguing and distinct colors in his pieces that would have been near impossible to accomplish on an organ that did not have electricity to execute these drastic and pertinent sound changes.
Changes of sound could not be as drastic without the aid of electricity
In addition to these improvements with electricity, because of this advancement there allowed enablement of a higher technical facility for organists. The development of direct electric action was the cause of the progress. This action allowed for ease of overcoming the pluck of the palette, allowing the pipe to speak. With this available ease, there was an increase in virtuoso writing for the organ. The ability of the organist before this technology was stunted as the key pressure would have to be overcome with more weight and would, therefore, slow the speed at which organists would tend to play because of physical limitations of the instrument.
