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I have a bit of a block with guitar these days, so thought I'd learn a keyboard instrument. I sold a guitar I haven't used for a long time, and bought a clavichord. This is the first keyboard I've ever played, so am just doing beginner's exercises, and the famous menuets by Petzold (formerly thought to be by Bach). Fortunately for my neighbors it is one of the quietest instruments in history! So quiet it is notoriously difficult to record well.
Mine cost £3,000 from the Robert Morley company in London, was made by John Morley in 1974 after an 18th-century German instrument, and was sold to me by Julia Morley - a family firm. Sadly they no longer make them, but refurbish old ones that have their name on it.
What is a clavichord? It sounds somewhere between a harpsichord and a fortepiano (the immediate precursor of the modern piano). Time-wise it dates from the medieval period right through to Beethoven, possibly even Chopin, plus we've all heard the funky electric version in Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition'! In short, it is one of the most popular keyboards ever. According to Bach's first biographer, Forkel - who interviewed Bach's sons - it was Bach's favoured keyboard as well.
One advantage it has over both the harpsichord and the piano is that it can do vibrato (!) which they called bebung, both on single notes and chords. Each note is made up of two strings - actually one string which curves round a hitch pin and doubles back to the tuning peg - which are struck by a metal hammer called a tangent. One side of where the tangent strikes is covered in cloth so that it is muted - a bit like hammering a note on an acoustic guitar string, and hearing both sides of the fret, which might be interesting for avant-garde music but was deemed not suitable for 500 years or so. The other side of the string reaches from the tangent to the bridge, and will sustain for a number of seconds until you stop pressing the key down. And how hard you press will affect the volume - another advantage over the harpsichord.
Here's a good and short overview in which you can see the red cloth I mentioned, and hear the bebung, though it sounds better I think in the lower-pitched keys. He has a triple-fretted clavi, whereas mine is a later fretless - he explains it. And you can see the brass tangents at work.
Keith Jarrett is a fan:
Book of Ways was recorded on the 14th of July 1986 in Ludwigsburg. The sequence of improvisations has been adapted for this double album without being changed in order. The great variety of sound and rhythm here is impressive – Jarrett played alternately one or two instruments simultaneously. Beyond unmistakeable echoes of lute music and Japanese koto, the whole range of modes of expression of the clavichord comes to the fore. Upon its release Spinmagazine raved: “Jarrett has been able to perform with all his accustomed inwardness and yet with paradoxically greater objectivity and force; the music, however sensitively and beautifully played, comes right at you, insists that you listen to it, demands an equivalence with your own physical existence, looks you right in the eye…”
„To my knowledge, this recording is unique in several ways. We had three clavichords in the studio, two of which were angled together so that I could play them both simultaneously, and the third off to the side. Also we miked the instruments very closely so that the full range of dynamics could be used (clavichords are very quiet and cannot be heard more than a few feet away). The two CDs were made on an off day between concerts with my Trio, and no material was organized beforehand. Everything was spontaneous. The recording was done in four hours.” – Keith Jarrett, 2002
Jarrett also plays Bach's Goldberg Variations:
As for my own playing: I can play one hand at a time, but putting the two together seems almost impossible. Early days.
Last edited by Rob MacKillop; 02-15-2026 at 07:32 AM.
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02-15-2026 06:00 AM
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I happily read this forum and almost never post, but this is too interesting to not respond to. The world needs more clavichord players!
A great instrument and one that we often forget stuck around in common use longer that we'd expect. Mozart is known to have composed on it. As an expressive keyboard instrument that can be played nearly silently, it's a great keyboard instrument for compulsive practicers whose families have limited patience.
The important question. How do you plan to tune it? Equal temperament or one of the fun historical systems?
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Glad to see another Clavi fan here!
Julia Morley told me they tune it to Werkmeister III, so that’s where I’ll keep it until I feel competent enough to worry about such things.
The two strings that play the high f were slightly out, so I tried to adjust them to match. I tuned the lower of the two about one cent…and it broke! I panicked, wondering how you replace strings, did a hopeful google search for a clavichord tuner and repair service in Edinburgh, and actually found one, Willie Hendry. Willie came round a few days later and observed that the whole instrument had shifted upwards a quarter tone, so no wonder my slight adjustment broke the string. He tuned the whole instrument down to 440 - where it was made to be - and replaced the broken string. He’ll return in a month to check it over, and then, he said, it should settle. I’m told that once they settle, they are good for a year.
All part of the learning curve.
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Nice-looking instrument Rob.
I remember reading years ago about Bach preferring the clavichord. I was interested to know more and I got a book about it by Hanns Neupert (which I’ve still got), heaven knows where I found the book, it might have been in a music shop in London or something.
I see yours is ‘fretless’ so all note combinations are possible!
I see Andras Schiff has made a Bach clavichord recording too, maybe they are making a comeback?
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Now that I have one, they will become trendy!
Though not if they heard me play it 
There’s such a thing as a Neupert harpsichord, but beyond that I know nothing of the man. Is the book you have mainly on the harpsichord, with some mention of the clavichord? Or on the clavichord, with some mention of Bach?
Yes, I have that Andras Schiff recording. Amazing.
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It’s this one (still in print apparently). Not a big book, but quite detailed as I recall (it’s about 30 years since I read it!)
The Clavichord by Hanns Neupert
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Thanks, Graham. I’ve just bought it. The best scholarly historical overview is published by Cambridge University Press, simply called The Clavichord.
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Cool, I found my copy, here’s a couple of sample pages (check out the pedal clavichords!)
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Oh, the pedal ones are crazy. I always wondered what it’s like playing two hands on a keyboard while your feet are leaping about below. Must be exhausting after a while. Quite a task for the old brain.
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Yes I was curious about those, I think the book says they were often used by organists to practise on.
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Yes, that’s seems to have been true. Understandable. Not everyone could have large pedal organ in their flat
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Mind you, guitarists use so many pedals these days, there are similarities.
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A new adventure! Enjoy and have fun with this, Rob.
The universe is full of tiny coincidences; I've been reading Heinrich Neuhaus's "The Art of Piano Playing" over the last week or two, and the clavichord was just mentioned in the pages I read yesterday. Until today, I don't believe I've ever heard one.
The Neuhaus book is quite fascinating. While it is ostensibly about playing piano and some of it is specifically about that, most of it is about musicianship and applicable to any instrument. He clearly adores JS Bach and as such seems to have quite a bit of affection for the clavichord.
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Well, that is a coincidence. It’s not the most commonly discussed instrument, but it’s great to see such positive approval from the jazz-guitar crowd!
I’m also learning of its value in free atonal music, which I discovered when trying to play a very tonal minuet for the first time
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Here’s a jazz guitar connection for you:
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Wow. I missed that one. Sounds weird
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Yes I’d read about it but never heard it, then I heard it on the radio just a few days ago!
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It was all meant to be
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Artie Shaw had a Harpsichord player in his band, his solo on this tune starts at about 40 seconds in.
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So weird and so good!
Originally Posted by grahambop
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Rob, nice to see you over here, and consider me envious. I hope it provides you considerable pleasure and musical nourishment.
I have been -this- close to acquiring a lautenwerck on a few occasions but I'm already bad enough at one instrument.
-Mitch
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Ah, a lautenwerk! Expensive, but do good… Hopefully one will fall your way, Mitch!
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Artie Shaw with a harpsichord…this thread is throwing up some interesting things!
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I'd like even more weirdness... like say Joe playing a wah-wah pedal with the clavichord. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
But you people are getting perverse, what's next, NKD? (New Kazoo Day).
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Two of my 1st students were sisters a year apart in age. They have a successful local band now: The Wolff Sisters!
Anyway, their Dad made reproductions of antique keyboard instruments on consignment - celestes, clavichords, and harpsichords - and had one of each in their house. They were quite beautiful and sounded wonderful! He now focuses mainly on clavichords: Charles Wolff Fine Keyboard Instruments. So, yeah, clavichords are very cool!
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