I'm famous - well sort of!

[JCitron]

I purchased this clavichord from the Harpsichord Clearing House about 6 years ago. The instrument is based on one built in the mid to late 1700s and has 5-octaves plus 2 notes. In 2009 I posted a video of my instrument in a mini concert. This worked for a class I was taking at UMASS Lowell and I sort, kind of, forgot about them. Recently I received a note in my inbox from John Lyon. The builder of my instrument. He posted a link off of his website to me playing his clavichord!


http://www.lyonkeyboardinstruments.com/instruments.html Scroll down to see the clavichord and the link.


I can quit my day job and become a concert clavichordist. Yeah right! Dream on buddy. There's no such thing because usually the clavichord is really, really soft.
Hint: When playing back the video, if you choose to watch, turn your volume down about 50% or more to get what the volume of the clavichord really sounds like.

The instrument has no "action" like a piano or harpsichord. The strings are simply plunked against by little metal plates mounted in the ends of the keys. There are two strings per note, to increase the volume, and where the tangent (metal plate) hits the string it produces the sound and determines the pitch.

The felt on the left side keeps the jangly sound from happening when the tangent strikes the string, and only focuses the sound on the correct "speaking length of the string". The felt also helps to increase the down bearing of the strings to make the instrument a bit louder and a bit easier to control the touch.


John

 

[PEV]

John,
Seeing the word clavichord in these pages is remarkable..

Many years ago I built a clavichord for my father who was a fine pianist/organist. It was an extremely satisfying project with an end result that sounded fantastic.

My main activity these days (besides Trainz) is making high-end Australian classical guitars, and the odd steel string as well. I have devised my own system for my classicals.. It's similar, though nowhere near the same, to that of Greg Smallman whose guitars set the benchmark for "high tech" classical instruments.

I get the best buzz from making guitars.. outstandingly the most satisfying activity in my life.

Later Edit: I could not get your link to work.. though the one on the following post is OK..... The little instrument sounds really good and your touch is appropriately light. I notice with some relief that you have not tried to push notes to pitch or induce tremolo which is possible on such an instrument. Wooden instruments and changing humidty are an unfortunate mixture. We get the same problems with our lightly built guitars which are built at a controlled humdity and temperature (40% RH at 25 degC).

 

[SD45T-2]

Is this it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIPmA2MpqIM
Sounds like a banjo and a piano!

 

[slabay]

LOL, certainly NOT what I expected to come across in this forum!!! Congrats on the 5 minutes of fame. If I could only get my family to enjoy this kind of music. :sigh:

---Scott

 

[JCitron]

John,
Seeing the word clavichord in these pages is remarkable..

Many years ago I built a clavichord for my father who was a fine pianist/organist. It was an extremely satisfying project with an end result that sounded fantastic.

My main activity these days (besides Trainz) is making high-end Australian classical guitars, and the odd steel string as well. I have devised my own system for my classicals.. It's similar, though nowhere near the same, to that of Greg Smallman whose guitars set the benchmark for "high tech" classical instruments.

I get the best buzz from making guitars.. outstandingly the most satisfying activity in my life.

Later Edit: I could not get your link to work.. though the one on the following post is OK..... PEV

Peter,

I fixed the link.

Mr. Tycoon had the Youtube link already.


That really is awesome, Peter. The classical guitar is a really beautiful instrument to hear and watch someone play. I've heard Greg's instruments before. There was a professional here in my area that had one. I can't recall the teachers name, I only saw him in recital at UMASS Lowell a couple of years ago. This was for a mandatory recital class I had to attend every Thursday. I didn't remember the teacher, but I did the instrument builder. It goes to show you how much attention I paid to the recital!

I have to say that music is my soul and I only wish I could've done this instead of computer stuff too. I get the same buzz when playing this or my digital harpsichord, although Chopin does sound nice on my piano too. A very long time ago, I too built a Zuckermann clavichord kit. The little instrument cost me $295 USD which I earned mowing lawns and delivering newspapers. This was hard earned, and the instrument still survives today, although it does need a bit of work and a good restringing. The current instrument was never a kit, but custom built for someone else. Would I attempt a kit again? Never. I don't have the patience or the skills. It's a lot easier to just play the instruments than to build them first. I'd rather leave that to the experts.

I'm glad you enjoyed my "recital".

John

 

[SD45T-2]

Can I make a request?

Some Scott Joplin please?

And yes, I know it's not a piano.

 

[rjhowie]

(Cough, cough) Ehrm, how do you actually get to hear the hapsichord?

 

[Bob5446]

That sounded very good. I enjoyed it - theres something rather timeless about the clavichord.

 

[chrisaw]

What some talented people on these forums, I'm in awe of you.
Not sure if this is off topic, but here's a you tube piano duet I rather like the exuberance of. Plug your laptop into a large tv for the best result.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XIx0ILXODw

Chris.

 

[ulmer94]

Very nice pieces you chose, and nice instrument to play them on, and last but certainly not least, a very good performer. Good job!

By the way, I don't care if this sort of thing is kind of off topic on a train related forum, I encourage classical music wherever I find it...

Thanks for sharing your talent!

 

[Euphod]

Well done John, I'm a classical music lover myself, primarily of the symphony orchestra type.

 

[JCitron]

(Cough, cough) Ehrm, how do you actually get to hear the hapsichord?

I have a couple of those too, Bobby. One is digital, which I posted a couple of links on YouTube (search for Clavichordist which is my YT name). I play William Croft's Ground in c.
I also have a small Italian virginal, which needs work.

I do have a grand piano too, but I need to practice more before I'll post anymore videos! What I've posted goes back a few years now.

John

 

[JCitron]

Well done John, I'm a classical music lover myself, primarily of the symphony orchestra type.

Thank you, Ed.

I tend to have an affection for chamber music myself, althoug a good concerto get's my blood going as well. I read through Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto the other day. I had to play both orchestra and piano parts, with me skipping around when it was only orchestra and no piano, or when the piano was too hard to play!

Some day I'll post some piano stuff when I get more time. Work keeps me pretty tied up and my house is too noisy right now. My 8 month old nephew is staying with us with his mom and dad until they have a new place to live. So between the baby crying and the phone ringing, music recording has become back burner for a bit of time, besides the piano really needs a tuning now. It's that time of year just before spring, and I have to wait for the weather to settle a bit before I tune it up.

John

 

[JCitron]

Very nice pieces you chose, and nice instrument to play them on, and last but certainly not least, a very good performer. Good job!

By the way, I don't care if this sort of thing is kind of off topic on a train related forum, I encourage classical music wherever I find it...

Thanks for sharing your talent!

Thank you, Ulmer for the compliments. The instrument is very unique, and I find every opportunity to share it when and where I can.

Personally I'd rather be doing that than computer stuff, but that's the way things go today.

John

 

[JCitron]

What some talented people on these forums, I'm in awe of you.
Not sure if this is off topic, but here's a you tube piano duet I rather like the exuberance of. Plug your laptop into a large tv for the best result.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XIx0ILXODw

Chris.

Thanks, Chris. I've seen these guys before. Charles Valentin Alkan's music is crazy hard to play on the piano. He was a contemporary of Chopin and walked off his job at the Paris Conservatiore after getting in a snit with someone. He became a recluse, didn't do much more than religious reading, and gave up composing. He died in the 1870s after a bookcase fell on him when he was reaching for the Talmud on the top shelf.

His pieces tend to be exhaustingly long and very complicated. I have some of his music and can barely get through the first few pages of it. He wrote a concerto for solo piano. It's really three etudes (studies), and the three pieces together take about 90 minutes to play at the tempo and metronome markings he indicated.

John

 

[martinvk]

Certainly an eclectic group in this forum. Now if we could get that instrument into one of those inspection cars that the railway tycoons used to use back in the heydays of North American trains: Musical Trainz

 

[ex-railwayman]

Wow John, you're a very talented gentleman, thanks for posting this thread, it's nice to see some proper music being appreciated by fans around the world.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

 

[JCitron]

Thanks guys. I'm glad you enjoyed my Classical music concert. I do not play any popular stuff and enjoy the classical world quite a bit. I only wish I was younger still and could have done this for a living. In 2009, when I was out of work, I attended the music program full time at University of Massachusetts at Lowell. It was the best time of my life. Sadly the unemployment office took away my income, well benefits, and I needed to go back to work. I was just lucky my current job came along. I sure miss the student life and my time focusing on my passion. Now my work eats up my time, and there's little energy for the music.

When time permits, I hope to get back into practicing more, and I really hope to post more videos. Perhaps this summer, after visiting the Frederick Collection where I piano sit in July, I'll have some performances done on the antique pianos.

John