Keyboards are incredible — the beauty and variety of sound that can come from them are simply astonishing.
Depending on who is playing and what song is being performed, the keyboard can be like any type of emotion or memory. And some keyboards sound like vastly different instruments!
There are hundreds of keyboard instruments in the world, both historically and currently. However, not that many of them are commonly used.
Even the 14 on this list aren’t all as common as you would think — some of these you might not have heard of! Let’s read on and find out what they are!
1. Piano
While the piano is the most famous of the keyboard instruments, it’s not the first. The piano is a more modern reinvention of the harpsichord, which is still around and will be featured later on in this list.
However, the piano — initially called the pianoforte, the common musical term for “soft” and “loud” (since it could do both) — is by far the most played keyboard instrument. The modern piano has 88 keys and is played sitting down.
Originally, it was created to solve the musical problem of dynamics, as before this, musicians couldn’t control how loud or quiet their music was.
2. Accordion
Although it’s not usually thought of as a keyboard instrument, the accordion does deserve a spot on this list!
It is a classic portable instrument created in Germany, usually handcrafted, and can be extremely expensive.
The accordion works like a tiny organ, using air, stops, and a keyboard to control the sound. However, unlike an organ, it doesn’t use pipes. Instead, the instrument itself acts like a bellows.
Accordions are often used in polka and traditional European dance music. It’s technically a member of the wind instrument family — but then the piano is technically a percussion instrument!
3. Harmonium
A harmonium is a lesser-known cousin of the accordion. It works much the same way — blowing air through the instrument while controlling the sound with a keyboard.
However, the harmonium has two main differences: the method of air pumping and the size of the instrument.
A harmonium is like a small upright piano but with two large pedals. The air is blown upwards through the instrument’s reeds to create sound, which is then controlled by the keys.
It’s simpler than the accordion because there are no “stops” to control. However, a harmonium is much quieter and bulkier.
4. Harpsichord
We’ve already referenced the harpsichord as a parent of the modern piano. Physically, it looks very similar to an upright piano, only smaller.
The significant difference between a harpsichord and a piano is how the sound is made. While a piano’s keys are attached to hammers, a harpsichord’s keys are attached to hooks. These hooks pluck the strings within the instrument instead of hitting them.
It makes a characteristic sound found on many Baroque instrumental pieces and requires technical precision. However, the musician can’t control dynamics, and the instrument has one volume: loud.
5. Clavichord
If a harpsichord is the mother of the piano, the clavichord is the father. It looks much less similar but still operates with a keyboard.
The main difference between a clavichord and a harpsichord is the strings are struck by metal rods instead of plucked by hooks.
Similar to the harpsichord, the clavichord has one central issue: dynamics. While you can control how hard you hit the keys, the instrument is too small to make enough sound in a large concert hall.
Clavichords only have a few octaves and are primarily used in the home for practice or composition.
6. Pipe Organ
Before the clavichord or the harpsichord, however, was the pipe organ, the original keyboard instrument. Variations of the organ have been around for over two thousand years.
The instrument pushes air through various pipes to make music using pedals, while the dual keyboards and a series of stops open and shut the pipes.
The pipe organ is used in large venues such as baseball stadiums, churches, and concert halls because it doesn’t need amplification to reach the back rows.
The largest pipe organ in the world is in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and consists of over 33,000 pipes.
7. Dulcitone
The dulcitone is a somewhat unique take on the clavichord, developed in the 1800s. It borrows part of its name and design from the hammered dulcimer, which uses padded hammers hitting a string.
However, the dulcitone attaches these hammers to a keyboard in a portable version of the clavichord.
The dulcitone is a quiet and high-pitched instrument, generally only spanning four or five octaves.
While the dulcitone had its uses, it was often replaced by a louder, sharper-sounding percussion instrument, such as a xylophone or a glockenspiel.
8. Synthesizer
Other than the piano, the synthesizer might be the most popular keyboard instrument on this list. Unlike an electric keyboard, synthesizers produce various sounds electronically.
While both plug into a wall and look like a smaller version of a regular piano, synthesizers have varying functions and are capable of many different sounds. But while a piano hits a hammer to a string for sound, synthesizers use internal computers.
When connected to an external computer, synthesizers can create endless different sounds. However, the classic synth or electric keyboard sound is famous in classic rock.
9. Melodica
The melodica is one of the newer instruments on this list. Although variations have been around for almost two hundred years, the modern (and most popular) version was invented in the 1950s.
It was made popular in reggae and ska music in the 1970s and 1980s. Think of the melodica as a recorder, but with a keyboard on top instead of holes.
It works the same way, with the musician blowing air through a top hole and controlling the sound by stopping specific openings.
The difference is that instead of directly seeing the holes, the musician uses the keyboard placed over the center tube to make sound.
10. Claviola
The claviola is a 20th-century hand-held keyboard that you blow into. Unlike the melodica, the claviola is no longer made and was only produced for a few years in the 1960s.
The claviola combines features of the accordion and melodica, but it’s more similar to the accordion in appearance and how it’s held. However, it is easier to play.
The player blows through a pipe on top while playing a keyboard on the side. Multiple pipes on the opposite side correspond to the keys. The air generates the sound, and the keys control it.
11. Hurdy-Gurdy
If nothing else, this instrument has the most entertaining name on the list: the hurdy-gurdy. Legends say that the name came from the somewhat warbly sound that the instrument has when it starts.
There are a variety of hurdy-gurdies, but they all sound like a combination of an accordion and a violin. The hurdy-gurdy looks like a violin with a crank on the bottom and a keyboard along the side.
Although it’s technically a stringed instrument, it fits right in with the widespread family of keyboard instruments. As the musician cranks the instrument and plays the keys, they slide over the strings to make the music.
12. Celeste
The celesta is a unique keyboard similar to a piano. Instead of hammers hitting strings, a celesta’s hammers strike sound plates above wooden resonators, producing a bell-like tone.
The celesta looks like a smaller version of a regular piano and is often played by a pianist. However, the difference in sound makes the celesta sound almost magical.
The most famous use of theceleste in modern music is in the theme song for the Harry Potter movies.
13. Autoharp
The autoharp is what happens when a hammered dulcimer and an accordion have a child.
Half of the instrument is strings pulled tightly across a wooden soundboard. The player plucks these strings with fingers or a pick.
A keyboard covers the other half and mutes all the strings except when the keys are depressed. This combination of string and keyboard instruments leads to a very soft, controlled sound.
Unlike many of the other keyboard instruments, the autoharp sounds much more like a stringed instrument (unsurprisingly, it sounds a lot like a small harp). It can be played flat on a table like a keyboard or upright like a harp.
14. Virginals
Lastly, we have virginals. If we’re continuing with the family analogy, virginals, which often came in two and are called a pair of virginals, is the grandmother of the harpsichord.
The instrument works much the same way; it uses keys to pluck strings. However, it’s slightly smaller than the harpsichord. The main difference between a harpsichord and a virginals is that the virginals are a pair of keyboards.
The harpsichord consolidated the keyboards into one multi-octave set, but this predecessor instrument separated them by the size of the strings. It was commonly used in homes because of its small size.
Summing Up Our List Of Keyboard Instruments
Now that you know a few different kinds of keyboard instruments, you can go on a quest to discover more instruments with keyboards.
While there are vast technical differences between them, a basic knowledge of music and piano would be a good start for playing each of these.
