1 00:00:00,060 --> 00:00:02,500 The following content is provided under a Creative 2 00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:04,019 Commons license. 3 00:00:04,019 --> 00:00:06,360 Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare 4 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:10,730 continue to offer high-quality educational resources for free. 5 00:00:10,730 --> 00:00:13,340 To make a donation or view additional materials 6 00:00:13,340 --> 00:00:17,217 from hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare 7 00:00:17,217 --> 00:00:17,842 at ocw.mit.edu. 8 00:00:21,170 --> 00:00:22,440 PROFESSOR: We should start. 9 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:24,960 And I have to introduce-- although she's probably 10 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:26,790 introduced herself already, this is 11 00:00:26,790 --> 00:00:32,220 Jean Rife, who is the curator of harpsichords at MIT. 12 00:00:32,220 --> 00:00:34,140 I love that title. 13 00:00:34,140 --> 00:00:36,820 JEAN RIFE: Theresa just dubbed me that, yes. 14 00:00:36,820 --> 00:00:39,170 PROFESSOR: Partly because we have three instruments 15 00:00:39,170 --> 00:00:45,680 on campus, and Jean spearheaded this amazing activity of let's 16 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:47,780 put the right harpsichord in the right place. 17 00:00:47,780 --> 00:00:48,990 Let's refurbish them. 18 00:00:48,990 --> 00:00:50,746 Let's treat them with respect. 19 00:00:50,746 --> 00:00:52,120 JEAN RIFE: Let's get rid of some, 20 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:53,514 and let's get some new ones. 21 00:00:53,514 --> 00:00:54,180 PROFESSOR: Yeah. 22 00:00:54,180 --> 00:00:56,667 So there was a real movement in action, 23 00:00:56,667 --> 00:00:58,250 and now we have three instruments that 24 00:00:58,250 --> 00:01:00,520 belong in the right place and do the right things, 25 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,420 and we can now do demonstrations like this. 26 00:01:03,420 --> 00:01:04,485 And that's very cool. 27 00:01:04,485 --> 00:01:08,087 AUDIENCE: So wouldn't we break place? 28 00:01:08,087 --> 00:01:09,920 JEAN RIFE: I'll talk about them, but we just 29 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,469 have three new-- two of them are brand new. 30 00:01:13,469 --> 00:01:15,010 Two of our instruments are brand new. 31 00:01:15,010 --> 00:01:18,550 This one's been here since it was built in 1973. 32 00:01:18,550 --> 00:01:21,470 But they're for different purposes, 33 00:01:21,470 --> 00:01:22,970 and we'll talk about that. 34 00:01:22,970 --> 00:01:25,120 PROFESSOR: It's different than the piano 35 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:27,040 because the space and the instrument 36 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,960 really do need to be matched up properly, 37 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:34,979 and different types of pieces are better 38 00:01:34,979 --> 00:01:36,020 on different instruments. 39 00:01:36,020 --> 00:01:37,730 There's all kinds of wonderful variations 40 00:01:37,730 --> 00:01:40,490 that go along with that. 41 00:01:40,490 --> 00:01:44,580 Jean is also a virtuoso horn player, which is-- maybe you 42 00:01:44,580 --> 00:01:47,510 guys know, and maybe you guys don't know. 43 00:01:47,510 --> 00:01:50,360 And she also coaches our chamber music ensembles. 44 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:56,572 So thank you for coming, and I'll let you take it from here. 45 00:01:56,572 --> 00:01:57,280 JEAN RIFE: Great. 46 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:58,600 Thank you, Theresa. 47 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:03,020 So, glad to see you all here and know that some of you 48 00:02:03,020 --> 00:02:05,640 are keyboard players and will delight 49 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:09,460 in trying instruments at the end, which I expect all of you 50 00:02:09,460 --> 00:02:10,050 to do. 51 00:02:12,580 --> 00:02:17,380 So, just wanted to talk a little bit about the harpsichord 52 00:02:17,380 --> 00:02:19,960 and its place in history. 53 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:22,980 The first harpsichord was invented, they think-- I mean, 54 00:02:22,980 --> 00:02:27,730 who knows that far back but-- around 1395. 55 00:02:27,730 --> 00:02:35,060 So the harpsichord was in use from around that time, 1400, 56 00:02:35,060 --> 00:02:40,100 to middle of the 19th century, 18-something. 57 00:02:40,100 --> 00:02:41,570 So it's over 400 years. 58 00:02:41,570 --> 00:02:44,820 The piano history kind of shrinks in comparison, 59 00:02:44,820 --> 00:02:45,400 doesn't it? 60 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:49,830 The modern piano's been around since, what, 1860? 61 00:02:49,830 --> 00:02:51,790 Almost what we have now. 62 00:02:51,790 --> 00:02:55,230 1860s-- you know, they were developing pianos, of course, 63 00:02:55,230 --> 00:02:58,630 in the 18th century, but it hasn't 64 00:02:58,630 --> 00:03:02,630 been the primary keyboard instrument for as long 65 00:03:02,630 --> 00:03:04,750 as the harpsichord was. 66 00:03:04,750 --> 00:03:11,130 And during that time, it took many shapes. 67 00:03:11,130 --> 00:03:14,530 What distinguishes a harpsichord from other instruments 68 00:03:14,530 --> 00:03:18,200 is that the strings are plucked. 69 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,320 And I will show you the mechanism a little bit later, 70 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,410 but I just want to talk about the history of it 71 00:03:24,410 --> 00:03:26,670 and how it was developed. 72 00:03:26,670 --> 00:03:29,020 And in different parts of Europe, 73 00:03:29,020 --> 00:03:31,300 it was different shapes. 74 00:03:31,300 --> 00:03:33,640 It had different sounds depending 75 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:37,660 on what the sensibilities of the culture were. 76 00:03:37,660 --> 00:03:40,010 And they used to think, OK, there 77 00:03:40,010 --> 00:03:42,800 are French harpsichords that have a certain shape, 78 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:44,130 and that's generally true. 79 00:03:44,130 --> 00:03:47,484 French harpsichords-- this is called a French double, 80 00:03:47,484 --> 00:03:51,380 a "double" because there are two keyboards 81 00:03:51,380 --> 00:03:55,060 and "French" because it has some of the sound 82 00:03:55,060 --> 00:03:57,330 characteristics and the shape. 83 00:03:57,330 --> 00:04:01,690 And the woods of most French harpsichords-- 84 00:04:01,690 --> 00:04:07,000 built by a couple of families that were prominent in Paris. 85 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,380 There are Flemish harpsichords. 86 00:04:09,380 --> 00:04:13,480 We don't have one of those on campus, 87 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:16,700 but they usually look similar to this, 88 00:04:16,700 --> 00:04:21,170 but the adjustments of the stops are on the side 89 00:04:21,170 --> 00:04:24,670 instead of inside here, generally. 90 00:04:24,670 --> 00:04:31,120 Italian harpsichords tend to be long, narrower 91 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,310 than this, usually one manual, and have 92 00:04:34,310 --> 00:04:38,730 a more plucky sound rather than a rich, full ringing sound 93 00:04:38,730 --> 00:04:39,990 like the French. 94 00:04:39,990 --> 00:04:42,600 And then there are German ones that are not 95 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,980 so popular in our culture. 96 00:04:45,980 --> 00:04:50,170 The French ones really took a lot of space 97 00:04:50,170 --> 00:04:52,195 in the revival of the instruments. 98 00:04:57,260 --> 00:05:04,260 When the piano started being developed in the late 1700s, 99 00:05:04,260 --> 00:05:08,740 harpsichord was kind of replaced by piano. 100 00:05:08,740 --> 00:05:11,190 Haydn could go either way. 101 00:05:11,190 --> 00:05:15,200 Some of his trios are equally delightful on harpsichord 102 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:16,724 as they are on piano. 103 00:05:16,724 --> 00:05:17,890 Sometimes it's nice to play. 104 00:05:17,890 --> 00:05:20,520 But the piano of the time was also 105 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:22,090 different from the piano now. 106 00:05:22,090 --> 00:05:25,120 It was much lighter. 107 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:29,510 And when the piano started being developed, 108 00:05:29,510 --> 00:05:33,410 the harpsichord was really at its peak, and the piano wasn't. 109 00:05:33,410 --> 00:05:36,810 So 1790s harpsichords are going to be a lot better 110 00:05:36,810 --> 00:05:39,120 than 1790s pianos. 111 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:43,290 They didn't quite know how to do it yet. 112 00:05:43,290 --> 00:05:52,900 And it was used a great deal longer as an opera continuo 113 00:05:52,900 --> 00:05:57,350 instrument than it was as a solo or chamber music instrument. 114 00:05:57,350 --> 00:06:01,100 So you find Mozart operas almost always-- 115 00:06:01,100 --> 00:06:06,110 you'll find now with people doing things-- 116 00:06:06,110 --> 00:06:08,750 have a harpsichord there. 117 00:06:08,750 --> 00:06:14,670 So that carried into quite late before it was really 118 00:06:14,670 --> 00:06:16,820 replaced by the piano. 119 00:06:16,820 --> 00:06:23,320 In the early 19th, 20th century-- 1910-- yeah, 120 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,500 probably in the 1910s, the British 121 00:06:26,500 --> 00:06:30,250 started thinking, no, let's do some old music. 122 00:06:30,250 --> 00:06:32,230 And there started being a revival 123 00:06:32,230 --> 00:06:35,990 very shortly after baroque music kind of died 124 00:06:35,990 --> 00:06:38,220 and the harpsichord kind of died. 125 00:06:38,220 --> 00:06:41,280 People started saying, you know, that was nice music. 126 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:42,940 Let's bring some of it back. 127 00:06:42,940 --> 00:06:50,730 And Carl Dolmetsch in England started building instruments. 128 00:06:50,730 --> 00:06:55,040 And there were some people who would go and work 129 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,480 with him, people who were interested, became interested, 130 00:06:57,480 --> 00:06:59,420 in those. 131 00:06:59,420 --> 00:07:05,390 And he didn't really copy old instruments. 132 00:07:05,390 --> 00:07:09,300 Before the World Wars, there was a great belief 133 00:07:09,300 --> 00:07:12,090 that we're getting better and better all the time. 134 00:07:12,090 --> 00:07:13,290 Everything's progress. 135 00:07:13,290 --> 00:07:14,990 You know, we're progressing. 136 00:07:14,990 --> 00:07:16,880 Things are getting better and better. 137 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,770 So what they tried to do when there was first 138 00:07:20,770 --> 00:07:24,310 a harpsichord revival or revival of early music 139 00:07:24,310 --> 00:07:28,370 was to say OK, let's use what we know 140 00:07:28,370 --> 00:07:30,420 and make these instruments better than they 141 00:07:30,420 --> 00:07:33,000 were making 'em back then. 142 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,390 So there was one school that went that way, 143 00:07:36,390 --> 00:07:41,530 and then people started-- there was this man named 144 00:07:41,530 --> 00:07:50,040 Hugh Gough in Germany, I think, who said wait a second, 145 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:51,790 those are really great instruments. 146 00:07:51,790 --> 00:07:54,830 Because there were a lot still extant in museums, 147 00:07:54,830 --> 00:07:56,999 in private collections. 148 00:07:56,999 --> 00:07:59,040 And they were hearing them, and they were saying, 149 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:00,150 these are beautiful. 150 00:08:00,150 --> 00:08:01,990 These are much more beautiful than what 151 00:08:01,990 --> 00:08:04,040 Dolmetsch is building. 152 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,960 So people worked along those lines, too. 153 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:14,350 So there were two schools in general going like that. 154 00:08:14,350 --> 00:08:18,170 After the war, after the second war, 155 00:08:18,170 --> 00:08:22,430 people realized not everything's getting better and better. 156 00:08:22,430 --> 00:08:25,290 So there was kind of a cultural change, too. 157 00:08:25,290 --> 00:08:31,640 There were two young men, Harvard students. 158 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:35,830 One was named Frank Hubbard, and he had a younger friend-- 159 00:08:35,830 --> 00:08:40,240 they'd been friends since childhood-- named William 160 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:44,800 Dowd-- and you can find his name right here-- who 161 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,080 got really interested in this when they were students. 162 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:49,830 They were both English majors at Harvard, 163 00:08:49,830 --> 00:08:52,640 and they started thinking, hm, it 164 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:56,630 might be interesting to build harpsichords. 165 00:08:56,630 --> 00:09:00,440 So they started building. 166 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,230 One of them went to Europe. 167 00:09:03,230 --> 00:09:07,000 Frank Hubbard went to Europe and worked with Dolmetsch for a bit 168 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:09,010 and realized he was doing nothing 169 00:09:09,010 --> 00:09:12,930 but getting coffee, stringing instruments, doing 170 00:09:12,930 --> 00:09:16,650 boring kinds of work and said, I don't like this so much. 171 00:09:16,650 --> 00:09:18,330 So he went to Germany and started 172 00:09:18,330 --> 00:09:20,610 working with Hugh Gough. 173 00:09:20,610 --> 00:09:26,100 That's G-O-U-G-H. 174 00:09:26,100 --> 00:09:30,390 And what Gough was doing was going 175 00:09:30,390 --> 00:09:32,620 around measuring old instruments and getting 176 00:09:32,620 --> 00:09:35,840 exact measurements of things. 177 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:37,930 Modern piano has an open bottom. 178 00:09:37,930 --> 00:09:40,710 Harpsichords are closed on the bottom. 179 00:09:40,710 --> 00:09:44,070 So Dolmetsch was doing the open-bottom things, 180 00:09:44,070 --> 00:09:48,110 and Gough was saying that doesn't make sense. 181 00:09:48,110 --> 00:09:50,010 These sound different. 182 00:09:50,010 --> 00:09:51,270 These sound better. 183 00:09:51,270 --> 00:09:54,890 So during that process, Frank Hubbard 184 00:09:54,890 --> 00:09:59,290 started reading his notes. 185 00:09:59,290 --> 00:10:01,229 He opened his bookstore to him, basically, 186 00:10:01,229 --> 00:10:02,770 and started getting really interested 187 00:10:02,770 --> 00:10:05,630 in the whole prospect and the project 188 00:10:05,630 --> 00:10:11,940 and wrote his own book, Three Centuries of Harpsichord 189 00:10:11,940 --> 00:10:13,750 Building, which is still available. 190 00:10:13,750 --> 00:10:14,760 It's in the library. 191 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:16,590 It's a classic. 192 00:10:16,590 --> 00:10:19,630 And came back. 193 00:10:19,630 --> 00:10:23,250 And Dowd was doing his own research and building. 194 00:10:23,250 --> 00:10:28,200 They got together and rented a place and in South Boston. 195 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,520 They talk about-- they had to sit by the heater 196 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:34,630 until 11 o'clock in the morning to get warm enough 197 00:10:34,630 --> 00:10:37,760 to go off in the corners and work, 198 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:39,320 but they started building. 199 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:45,650 And they actually created a movement 200 00:10:45,650 --> 00:10:49,360 of copying old instruments. 201 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:52,790 There was someone in Germany, Skowroneck, who 202 00:10:52,790 --> 00:10:57,970 was independently doing work, and so he created a school 203 00:10:57,970 --> 00:10:58,820 in Europe. 204 00:10:58,820 --> 00:11:03,760 But the revival of instruments really centered in the US 205 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:05,970 and grew up here. 206 00:11:05,970 --> 00:11:08,760 Meanwhile, there was a man, a German 207 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:14,060 who came to America, Zuckermann, and thought everybody should 208 00:11:14,060 --> 00:11:18,140 have a harpsichord, so he created the harpsichord kit 209 00:11:18,140 --> 00:11:22,840 business and made a very simple box. 210 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:25,460 And you can find these kits all over the place now. 211 00:11:25,460 --> 00:11:27,850 You know, somebody says oh, we have 212 00:11:27,850 --> 00:11:31,480 an instrument at our school, but nobody's played it for 30, 213 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:32,330 40 years. 214 00:11:32,330 --> 00:11:34,830 And you go, and it's a Zuckermann kit 215 00:11:34,830 --> 00:11:42,310 that was put together, no bent sides, nothing complicated. 216 00:11:42,310 --> 00:11:45,780 But his mission was to get things out. 217 00:11:45,780 --> 00:11:49,150 In the '70s, that was bought by David Way, 218 00:11:49,150 --> 00:11:51,220 who was a great marketer. 219 00:11:51,220 --> 00:11:54,130 Marketed it all over the world, actually, 220 00:11:54,130 --> 00:11:55,510 Zuckermann harpsichords. 221 00:11:55,510 --> 00:11:59,030 And he also started building really beautiful harpsichords, 222 00:11:59,030 --> 00:12:03,300 and there are some beautiful instruments by David Way 223 00:12:03,300 --> 00:12:06,080 in Boston, actually, around here. 224 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,870 Boston and actually became a center for early music, 225 00:12:09,870 --> 00:12:11,890 so there are millions of harpsichords 226 00:12:11,890 --> 00:12:16,040 around here, millions of wonderful players. 227 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:20,660 And you can just look around, go to a lot of places, 228 00:12:20,660 --> 00:12:23,540 and find great harpsichordists. 229 00:12:23,540 --> 00:12:27,090 So all these things were happening. 230 00:12:27,090 --> 00:12:33,230 In the early 18th, late 17th century, 231 00:12:33,230 --> 00:12:37,000 there was a time when they thought 232 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,410 the pianos were coming along. 233 00:12:39,410 --> 00:12:41,440 They had dynamics. 234 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:44,600 Harpsichord is one dynamic, and you actually 235 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:49,470 can increase the dynamic by adding registers, 236 00:12:49,470 --> 00:12:51,810 get two sets of strings going at once 237 00:12:51,810 --> 00:12:54,290 or play more notes at the same time. 238 00:12:54,290 --> 00:12:56,920 But otherwise, you can't play louder. 239 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,610 So people would come up in the age of invention 240 00:13:00,610 --> 00:13:03,880 when saxophones were being developed 241 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:08,180 and sarrusophones, all kinds of instruments 242 00:13:08,180 --> 00:13:10,710 were being invented. 243 00:13:10,710 --> 00:13:12,740 They were trying to figure out how to do this, 244 00:13:12,740 --> 00:13:15,860 and they actually had a Venetian blind thing inside 245 00:13:15,860 --> 00:13:19,510 so you could open up the keyboard. 246 00:13:19,510 --> 00:13:23,730 So all kinds of things happened in the history of this. 247 00:13:23,730 --> 00:13:27,970 So what they found was the more and more 248 00:13:27,970 --> 00:13:31,200 they copied old instruments, the better they worked. 249 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:36,970 For a while they were using plywood for soundboards, 250 00:13:36,970 --> 00:13:39,480 and they realized OK, that that's 251 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,530 supposed to kind of control the shrinkage, but actually 252 00:13:42,530 --> 00:13:45,480 what it does is it expands in different directions 253 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:47,670 at the same time and you can't control it. 254 00:13:47,670 --> 00:13:52,260 And they realized that old people like Taskin and Ruckers 255 00:13:52,260 --> 00:13:58,590 actually knew what the woods did really well and so copied more 256 00:13:58,590 --> 00:14:01,020 and more. 257 00:14:01,020 --> 00:14:05,360 So what can be varied now in harpsichords? 258 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:07,290 The shape of the instrument. 259 00:14:07,290 --> 00:14:11,150 This is a typical French shape here. 260 00:14:11,150 --> 00:14:16,590 You can have a square box, a virginal, 261 00:14:16,590 --> 00:14:22,600 which is popular in England and the Netherlands. 262 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:28,465 You can have a spinet, which generally has one side that's 263 00:14:28,465 --> 00:14:31,260 kind of a trapezoid shape. 264 00:14:31,260 --> 00:14:38,820 You can have narrower, long, wider. 265 00:14:38,820 --> 00:14:40,980 What other kinds of things? 266 00:14:40,980 --> 00:14:41,480 Shapes. 267 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:44,020 Oh, there's the clavicytherium, and people are 268 00:14:44,020 --> 00:14:46,200 starting to copy those more. 269 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,450 It's basically a harpsichord with the strings going up 270 00:14:49,450 --> 00:14:50,350 in the air. 271 00:14:50,350 --> 00:14:54,590 It's great for a small apartment with high ceilings 272 00:14:54,590 --> 00:14:56,567 because it doesn't take so much floor space. 273 00:14:56,567 --> 00:14:58,650 So you don't have to sleep under your harpsichord. 274 00:14:58,650 --> 00:15:00,860 You can sleep beside it. 275 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:11,040 The wires-- why don't you come up here and just 276 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:13,690 let me show you some of the inside? 277 00:15:13,690 --> 00:15:15,420 And while we do this you, should always 278 00:15:15,420 --> 00:15:18,320 move around and get different vantage points 279 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:20,750 and different sound vantage points, OK? 280 00:15:20,750 --> 00:15:21,640 All right. 281 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:25,050 We're just going to take-- this music desk is not 282 00:15:25,050 --> 00:15:26,397 an original kind of music desk. 283 00:15:26,397 --> 00:15:27,980 It was one of Dowd's great inventions. 284 00:15:27,980 --> 00:15:31,390 So it could be folded down into the instrument, 285 00:15:31,390 --> 00:15:34,240 so that's pretty nice. 286 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:38,080 These pins are a new style. 287 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,355 The older pins would be flatter. 288 00:15:42,970 --> 00:15:47,460 Harpsichord needs to be tuned sometimes every day, 289 00:15:47,460 --> 00:15:50,250 in New England especially. 290 00:15:50,250 --> 00:15:53,340 At home, mine doesn't have to be tuned more than once a week 291 00:15:53,340 --> 00:15:56,270 because I have a dehumidifier for the summers 292 00:15:56,270 --> 00:16:00,220 and the humidifier for the winters. 293 00:16:00,220 --> 00:16:03,830 So this comes off. 294 00:16:03,830 --> 00:16:08,550 What this does is-- and you see it has felt on it. 295 00:16:08,550 --> 00:16:13,165 It stops the jacks from flying up into the air. 296 00:16:13,165 --> 00:16:14,570 You see come up there. 297 00:16:14,570 --> 00:16:16,610 And not so good, right? 298 00:16:16,610 --> 00:16:17,287 Just sticks. 299 00:16:17,287 --> 00:16:19,120 Now this is going to be hard to get back in. 300 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:20,890 I don't know what I did. 301 00:16:20,890 --> 00:16:23,340 These are called jacks. 302 00:16:23,340 --> 00:16:29,330 And if you look, here's the damper. 303 00:16:29,330 --> 00:16:30,410 There's a felt damper. 304 00:16:30,410 --> 00:16:32,550 There's the plectra right there. 305 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:43,280 So you see it goes up. 306 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:50,360 The plectra plucks the strings, and when it comes back down, 307 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:51,517 there actually is a sound. 308 00:16:51,517 --> 00:16:52,975 If you listen really carefully, you 309 00:16:52,975 --> 00:16:55,250 can hear it going the other way. 310 00:16:55,250 --> 00:16:57,350 That's very quiet the other way. 311 00:16:57,350 --> 00:17:02,140 And then when you take your finger off the key, 312 00:17:02,140 --> 00:17:06,596 the damper will come back down most of the time 313 00:17:06,596 --> 00:17:10,150 if you have this jack stop on it. 314 00:17:10,150 --> 00:17:15,750 The other thing that happens-- this goes back, you see? 315 00:17:15,750 --> 00:17:18,900 Oh, the plectrum is important. 316 00:17:18,900 --> 00:17:19,420 OK. 317 00:17:19,420 --> 00:17:22,480 What do you make that out of? 318 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:24,569 They used crow quill back in the day. 319 00:17:30,870 --> 00:17:34,710 One of the things that Hubbard and Dowd experimented with 320 00:17:34,710 --> 00:17:36,970 was a material called Delrin. 321 00:17:36,970 --> 00:17:40,580 DuPont actually was developing this plastic, 322 00:17:40,580 --> 00:17:45,300 and they asked Hubbard and Dowd to try it out. 323 00:17:45,300 --> 00:17:49,730 So they were expecting back a report with statistics 324 00:17:49,730 --> 00:17:50,620 and stuff like that. 325 00:17:50,620 --> 00:17:54,250 Well, they wrote back and said wow, with Delrin, 326 00:17:54,250 --> 00:17:56,915 you can play four hours a day on the "Chromatic 327 00:17:56,915 --> 00:18:01,140 Fantasy and Fugue" and not break a quill. 328 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:09,840 Delrin became a very popular thing. 329 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:13,290 Crow quill has a different sound. 330 00:18:13,290 --> 00:18:16,130 And they tried all kinds of materials. 331 00:18:16,130 --> 00:18:18,880 They tried leather plectra, which 332 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,960 has kind of a sweet sound, but you 333 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:25,570 can understand what the limitations of that would be. 334 00:18:25,570 --> 00:18:28,480 And finally, somebody said, you know, 335 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,820 crow quill sounds a lot like crow quill. 336 00:18:31,820 --> 00:18:35,230 The problem with crow quill was that in the '50s, 337 00:18:35,230 --> 00:18:39,920 it broke all the time, constantly was breaking. 338 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:45,210 It doesn't so much now because we got rid of DDT. 339 00:18:45,210 --> 00:18:47,570 So it was breaking a lot in the '50s. 340 00:18:47,570 --> 00:18:49,120 I mean, they were thinking, whoa, 341 00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:50,810 what are those people doing back then? 342 00:18:50,810 --> 00:18:53,143 They're spending their whole-- they're like, oh, they're 343 00:18:53,143 --> 00:18:55,342 always making reeds. 344 00:18:55,342 --> 00:18:56,920 They're always replacing quills. 345 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,310 But no, it was stronger. 346 00:18:59,310 --> 00:19:01,800 So now that we've gotten rid of DDT, 347 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:03,690 people are using crow quill. 348 00:19:03,690 --> 00:19:07,100 But in institutional settings and a lot of homes, 349 00:19:07,100 --> 00:19:09,370 you will still find Delrin because it's 350 00:19:09,370 --> 00:19:11,280 a pretty good substitute. 351 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:13,860 It does have a little curve in it. 352 00:19:13,860 --> 00:19:17,240 It's not completely flat, so you make sure that goes down. 353 00:19:21,050 --> 00:19:30,120 One other thing I forgot to show you-- on the back of this 354 00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:32,260 is a little spring. 355 00:19:32,260 --> 00:19:40,420 On this, it's a little piece of wire so that once this goes by, 356 00:19:40,420 --> 00:19:44,250 that will push this back. 357 00:19:44,250 --> 00:19:46,050 You can see it's a wire in there. 358 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:53,960 That was originally boar bristle. 359 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:55,890 And again, some harpsichords will get that. 360 00:19:55,890 --> 00:19:57,930 It doesn't really affect the sound that much, 361 00:19:57,930 --> 00:20:00,705 so most people are using-- this is just harpsichord wire. 362 00:20:00,705 --> 00:20:01,913 It's just off the instrument. 363 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:08,240 What I've discovered working with harpsichord builders 364 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:14,720 is they are incredibly meticulous. 365 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:19,700 Half a paper's width of shaving on a part 366 00:20:19,700 --> 00:20:23,920 can make a huge difference in the harpsichord, in the sound, 367 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:24,930 in the way it works. 368 00:20:24,930 --> 00:20:30,000 You see these are fit very well in the guide, 369 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,900 but they can't be too tight or they won't go down. 370 00:20:32,900 --> 00:20:36,570 And they have to be able to tolerate the weather change. 371 00:20:36,570 --> 00:20:40,600 When the wood swells, it has to be able to tolerate that. 372 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,980 The length of that spring that I just showed you, 373 00:20:43,980 --> 00:20:47,210 that wire in there, makes a great deal of a difference. 374 00:20:47,210 --> 00:20:52,460 If it's up one millimeter, it can change how responsive 375 00:20:52,460 --> 00:20:54,430 the jack is coming back. 376 00:20:54,430 --> 00:20:57,920 So any questions about the inside? 377 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:02,700 The wires are sometimes steel, sometimes iron, 378 00:21:02,700 --> 00:21:06,160 sometimes brass. 379 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,390 So you can see this is completely 380 00:21:08,390 --> 00:21:11,880 strung in brass up to this point, 381 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,160 and then he changes over to-- I believe this is steel 382 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,540 but it might be iron. 383 00:21:17,540 --> 00:21:18,605 I'm not sure. 384 00:21:18,605 --> 00:21:19,720 And that's something else. 385 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:22,430 I mean, there are people who are just 386 00:21:22,430 --> 00:21:25,350 making harpsichord wires now. 387 00:21:25,350 --> 00:21:27,580 Looking for a career? 388 00:21:27,580 --> 00:21:28,940 You want to build? 389 00:21:28,940 --> 00:21:31,530 And for a while, everybody had to get rose wires, 390 00:21:31,530 --> 00:21:34,150 and now it's something else. 391 00:21:34,150 --> 00:21:35,740 Little fads. 392 00:21:35,740 --> 00:21:37,020 And they really get better. 393 00:21:37,020 --> 00:21:39,010 They make the instrument sound better. 394 00:21:39,010 --> 00:21:42,294 Anybody have any questions about the inside of this? 395 00:21:42,294 --> 00:21:44,210 PROFESSOR: Can you engage the difference stops 396 00:21:44,210 --> 00:21:45,147 and maybe show us? 397 00:21:45,147 --> 00:21:46,230 JEAN RIFE: I will do that. 398 00:21:46,230 --> 00:21:48,950 Yeah. 399 00:21:48,950 --> 00:21:53,360 So Theresa is asking about the stops. 400 00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:58,050 This keyboard here, upper keyboard, 401 00:21:58,050 --> 00:22:02,270 can move in or move out. 402 00:22:02,270 --> 00:22:09,780 And when it moves in, the mechanism 403 00:22:09,780 --> 00:22:14,270 that hits the back of the jacks moves back 404 00:22:14,270 --> 00:22:19,060 so it can move another row of these. 405 00:22:19,060 --> 00:22:23,020 So I don't want to go very high, but they all move, 406 00:22:23,020 --> 00:22:29,910 but they strike the string if it's back further. 407 00:22:29,910 --> 00:22:32,310 If it comes out here-- oh. 408 00:22:32,310 --> 00:22:33,080 That's what it is. 409 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:37,330 As you move back, you get out of the way of this one, right? 410 00:22:37,330 --> 00:22:38,950 You move forward, rather. 411 00:22:38,950 --> 00:22:43,350 So you're not engaging the front one here at all. 412 00:22:43,350 --> 00:22:48,050 This is called the front 8', played on the upper keyboard. 413 00:22:48,050 --> 00:22:49,190 So it's kind of confusing. 414 00:22:49,190 --> 00:22:53,650 That seemed backwards to me, but from the inside, it's right. 415 00:22:53,650 --> 00:22:56,610 It's closer to the bridge. 416 00:22:56,610 --> 00:22:59,780 The front 8' will have a more nasal sound. 417 00:22:59,780 --> 00:23:05,150 So we're not playing that at all now. 418 00:23:05,150 --> 00:23:05,650 If I go-- 419 00:23:05,650 --> 00:23:07,126 [PLAYS NOTES] 420 00:23:07,126 --> 00:23:10,078 You can hear that, right? 421 00:23:10,078 --> 00:23:11,190 That's the back 8'. 422 00:23:11,190 --> 00:23:13,030 It's further back. 423 00:23:13,030 --> 00:23:15,070 And then there's a four-foot. 424 00:23:15,070 --> 00:23:18,420 And they're designated eight-foot and four-foot. 425 00:23:18,420 --> 00:23:20,720 That's just taken from organ. 426 00:23:24,050 --> 00:23:25,960 Name-ology-- what do you call that? 427 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:27,204 What's the word? 428 00:23:27,204 --> 00:23:28,120 AUDIENCE: Terminology. 429 00:23:28,120 --> 00:23:29,078 JEAN RIFE: Terminology. 430 00:23:29,078 --> 00:23:31,270 Thanks. 431 00:23:31,270 --> 00:23:34,900 So that's one way you can make it louder. 432 00:23:34,900 --> 00:23:39,510 On the front here, I'm going to put this back on. 433 00:23:39,510 --> 00:23:40,980 AUDIENCE: I have a quick question. 434 00:23:40,980 --> 00:23:41,646 JEAN RIFE: Yeah. 435 00:23:41,646 --> 00:23:43,430 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 436 00:23:43,430 --> 00:23:46,110 JEAN RIFE: These are the tuning pins here. 437 00:23:46,110 --> 00:23:49,080 There's a tuning hammer right here. 438 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:56,220 And most people will tune one octave and then by ear tune 439 00:23:56,220 --> 00:23:57,520 from there. 440 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:01,190 Octaves, fourths, fifths all the way down, all the way up. 441 00:24:01,190 --> 00:24:03,300 Then tune the different registers. 442 00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:08,690 It takes about 15 minutes for somebody to tune a harpsichord. 443 00:24:08,690 --> 00:24:10,060 It's not like a piano. 444 00:24:10,060 --> 00:24:12,170 It's nowhere near as hard as a piano. 445 00:24:12,170 --> 00:24:17,240 And most harpsichordists don't sit there listening for beats. 446 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,880 Piano tuners really have to do that. 447 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,540 Harpsichordists-- most of us say OK, let's just tune. 448 00:24:23,540 --> 00:24:24,350 And you do it. 449 00:24:24,350 --> 00:24:28,900 I saw somebody tune in Sanders Theatre once. 450 00:24:28,900 --> 00:24:34,710 It was in the middle of Banchetto Musicale concert, 451 00:24:34,710 --> 00:24:41,890 and the bright lights coming on in the cold weather heated up 452 00:24:41,890 --> 00:24:46,730 the harpsichord so it was so out of tune that it was unbearable. 453 00:24:46,730 --> 00:24:50,660 And so Martin Pearlman sat down at the break 454 00:24:50,660 --> 00:24:52,950 and tuned the whole-- well, it wasn't even the break. 455 00:24:52,950 --> 00:24:54,420 It was between two pieces. 456 00:24:54,420 --> 00:24:54,992 I timed it. 457 00:24:54,992 --> 00:24:56,200 It was three and 1/2 minutes. 458 00:24:58,820 --> 00:24:59,410 It was fine. 459 00:24:59,410 --> 00:25:01,640 It was fine after that. 460 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:05,340 It's amazing what you can do under a crunch, right? 461 00:25:05,340 --> 00:25:08,390 AUDIENCE: How long were the plec-- 462 00:25:08,390 --> 00:25:09,090 JEAN RIFE: What? 463 00:25:09,090 --> 00:25:10,080 AUDIENCE: The pluck-- 464 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:10,340 JEAN RIFE: Plectra? 465 00:25:10,340 --> 00:25:11,298 AUDIENCE: Yes, plectra. 466 00:25:11,298 --> 00:25:12,464 How long will they last? 467 00:25:12,464 --> 00:25:13,396 Is it four hours? 468 00:25:13,396 --> 00:25:14,330 Is that a normal time? 469 00:25:14,330 --> 00:25:16,665 Or, how long will these last? 470 00:25:16,665 --> 00:25:17,540 JEAN RIFE: You mean-- 471 00:25:17,540 --> 00:25:19,010 AUDIENCE: The Delrin. 472 00:25:19,010 --> 00:25:21,240 JEAN RIFE: How long will the Delrin stay in there 473 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:22,130 and be playable? 474 00:25:22,130 --> 00:25:22,807 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 475 00:25:22,807 --> 00:25:23,515 JEAN RIFE: Years. 476 00:25:23,515 --> 00:25:23,870 AUDIENCE: Years? 477 00:25:23,870 --> 00:25:24,590 OK. 478 00:25:24,590 --> 00:25:25,320 JEAN RIFE: Yeah. 479 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,890 Yeah, sometimes it cracks down the middle, 480 00:25:28,890 --> 00:25:31,845 and you can really tell by the sound. 481 00:25:31,845 --> 00:25:36,330 If it starts sounding funny, then OK, let's re-quill. 482 00:25:39,540 --> 00:25:41,630 So you've got this. 483 00:25:44,895 --> 00:25:49,155 This here is called a buff stop, or peu de buffle. 484 00:25:52,006 --> 00:25:54,575 Can we get this-- thanks. 485 00:25:58,780 --> 00:26:01,440 This is leather here, and you can actually 486 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:02,340 touch it if you want. 487 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:11,180 So that when I move this, it will damp the string 488 00:26:11,180 --> 00:26:12,111 just a little bit. 489 00:26:12,111 --> 00:26:14,520 [PLAYS NOTES] 490 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,630 So it doesn't ring very much. 491 00:26:16,630 --> 00:26:18,759 It's also called the lute stop sometimes. 492 00:26:18,759 --> 00:26:20,715 [PLAYS NOTES] 493 00:26:23,462 --> 00:26:24,920 So that's kind of fun to play with. 494 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,475 Some people overuse it. 495 00:26:27,475 --> 00:26:30,790 You like the sound so much you end up getting a lot of it. 496 00:26:30,790 --> 00:26:31,550 Here you've got-- 497 00:26:31,550 --> 00:26:33,510 [PLAYS NOTES] 498 00:26:35,470 --> 00:26:37,876 So here's one eight and a four. 499 00:26:40,540 --> 00:26:45,223 What you notice if you go very slowly-- 500 00:26:45,223 --> 00:26:48,170 [PLAYS NOTES] 501 00:26:48,170 --> 00:26:49,980 They come one after the other. 502 00:26:49,980 --> 00:26:52,180 [PLAYS NOTES] 503 00:26:52,180 --> 00:26:56,990 And if I put on two eights and a four, it works really well. 504 00:26:56,990 --> 00:26:57,870 [PLAYS NOTES] 505 00:26:57,870 --> 00:27:00,790 This is well-regulated harpsichord. 506 00:27:00,790 --> 00:27:03,265 [PLAYS NOTES] 507 00:27:06,730 --> 00:27:09,700 It kind of mimics what we do when we're playing. 508 00:27:09,700 --> 00:27:13,375 If we're playing a big chord, generally it's like that. 509 00:27:13,375 --> 00:27:14,000 It's not like-- 510 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:15,480 [PLAYS CHORDS] 511 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:16,635 You can hear it. 512 00:27:16,635 --> 00:27:18,535 [PLAYS CHORDS] 513 00:27:22,785 --> 00:27:23,285 Right? 514 00:27:23,285 --> 00:27:25,890 And you can vary the speed of those 515 00:27:25,890 --> 00:27:29,500 for more lushness and stuff. 516 00:27:29,500 --> 00:27:36,370 I have to say this harpsichord has had a long, hard life here. 517 00:27:36,370 --> 00:27:39,485 It's been here over 40 years. 518 00:27:39,485 --> 00:27:44,070 It was built in 1973 and brought straight here. 519 00:27:44,070 --> 00:27:48,060 It lived for years in the chapel, 520 00:27:48,060 --> 00:27:53,810 and the weather in the chapel is variable, right? 521 00:27:53,810 --> 00:27:57,480 It gets really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter. 522 00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,830 It's damp. 523 00:27:59,830 --> 00:28:06,110 So I have a big place in my heart for this instrument. 524 00:28:06,110 --> 00:28:07,110 It's been through a lot. 525 00:28:07,110 --> 00:28:09,510 And you can see it's been beat up. 526 00:28:09,510 --> 00:28:11,900 For a while, we had a lock on it. 527 00:28:11,900 --> 00:28:13,600 Nobody knows where the key is now, 528 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:17,750 and it's useless anyway because, I mean, when you have a lock, 529 00:28:17,750 --> 00:28:18,510 what do people do? 530 00:28:18,510 --> 00:28:21,560 They pick it and play the hardsichord anyway. 531 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,230 And for a while, we had a cover that had metal, 532 00:28:24,230 --> 00:28:25,900 so it got beat up a lot. 533 00:28:25,900 --> 00:28:28,020 I don't know what these holes got drilled for, 534 00:28:28,020 --> 00:28:35,000 but I'm sure Bill Dowd would be really unhappy with the finish. 535 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:40,120 But when we had it rebuilt, we had all the jacks replaced. 536 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:44,910 They were plastic, and plastic warps. 537 00:28:44,910 --> 00:28:51,030 And so this part had to come out. 538 00:28:51,030 --> 00:28:55,490 Every jack got replaced, every string got replaced, 539 00:28:55,490 --> 00:29:00,260 and the whole thing went from a good harpsichord 540 00:29:00,260 --> 00:29:02,890 to what I consider world-class. 541 00:29:02,890 --> 00:29:04,970 I think it's as good as any harpsichord 542 00:29:04,970 --> 00:29:09,410 you'll find in Boston, and that's saying a lot. 543 00:29:09,410 --> 00:29:10,970 I mean, when it first got delivered, 544 00:29:10,970 --> 00:29:13,494 I had Peter and Christie from the library-- 545 00:29:13,494 --> 00:29:15,660 it came in the summer, and I said, I was so excited. 546 00:29:15,660 --> 00:29:17,710 So they came over and Peter said, 547 00:29:17,710 --> 00:29:21,280 it sounds like it's plugged in. 548 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:23,650 So it really made a big difference with the sound, 549 00:29:23,650 --> 00:29:28,830 but it's really an upgrade to more what it was then. 550 00:29:28,830 --> 00:29:31,800 Let's see if there's any other toys I can show you here. 551 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:33,370 I don't think so. 552 00:29:33,370 --> 00:29:37,220 So you see we can play with one eight-foot, two eight-foots, 553 00:29:37,220 --> 00:29:41,830 either eight-foot, the upper manual with lute, 554 00:29:41,830 --> 00:29:45,196 or one eight and a four. 555 00:29:45,196 --> 00:29:46,720 That's off now, right? 556 00:29:49,310 --> 00:29:54,355 Or two eights and a four, which is the most sound you're 557 00:29:54,355 --> 00:29:56,813 going to get out of it, which is quite a lot. 558 00:29:56,813 --> 00:29:58,604 AUDIENCE: If you play the upper with lutes, 559 00:29:58,604 --> 00:30:02,980 can you also play the lower without the [INAUDIBLE]? 560 00:30:02,980 --> 00:30:04,790 JEAN RIFE: Yeah. 561 00:30:04,790 --> 00:30:06,010 Yeah. 562 00:30:06,010 --> 00:30:08,000 Yeah, so you if you put the lute stop on-- 563 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,455 AUDIENCE: --it's just on there. 564 00:30:10,455 --> 00:30:12,330 JEAN RIFE: Yeah, and this instrument-- a lot 565 00:30:12,330 --> 00:30:15,220 of instruments will have the lute stop on the bottom manual. 566 00:30:15,220 --> 00:30:17,960 So every instrument's somewhat different, 567 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,590 so you always have to check out-- OK, 568 00:30:21,590 --> 00:30:22,730 so where's the lute stop? 569 00:30:22,730 --> 00:30:23,730 Where is the eight-foot? 570 00:30:23,730 --> 00:30:26,120 Where is the four-foot? 571 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:26,810 Yeah, Anthony. 572 00:30:26,810 --> 00:30:28,890 AUDIENCE: Do you normally change those in middle 573 00:30:28,890 --> 00:30:30,370 of a piece or would that just be-- 574 00:30:30,370 --> 00:30:33,710 JEAN RIFE: It depends on the piece. 575 00:30:33,710 --> 00:30:39,220 A piece by Ligeti-- there's one movement straight through. 576 00:30:39,220 --> 00:30:40,770 It's called "Continuum." 577 00:30:40,770 --> 00:30:42,380 He's changing a lot. 578 00:30:42,380 --> 00:30:46,070 So you need a really good page-turner. 579 00:30:46,070 --> 00:30:49,350 But most early pieces I don't change. 580 00:30:49,350 --> 00:30:51,630 If I get to it, there's one piece today 581 00:30:51,630 --> 00:30:54,585 where I will go from one manual to the other, 582 00:30:54,585 --> 00:30:55,460 and you'll hear that. 583 00:30:55,460 --> 00:30:58,990 But mostly I'll play one piece on one stop. 584 00:30:58,990 --> 00:31:02,520 Any other questions about the instrument? 585 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:04,580 PROFESSOR: I'm going to ask the obvious one. 586 00:31:04,580 --> 00:31:06,890 Why are the keys reversed in color? 587 00:31:06,890 --> 00:31:10,700 JEAN RIFE: Why are the keys reversed in color? 588 00:31:10,700 --> 00:31:12,080 Can't answer that. 589 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:14,420 I think it's what the builder liked. 590 00:31:14,420 --> 00:31:15,480 Yeah, yeah. 591 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:19,580 I mean, you find instruments with a lightwood 592 00:31:19,580 --> 00:31:21,600 down here and a darkwood up here. 593 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,850 So you find a lot of different variations of it. 594 00:31:24,850 --> 00:31:27,170 And that's one thing that builders really 595 00:31:27,170 --> 00:31:30,780 take pride in, their choice of woods, 596 00:31:30,780 --> 00:31:34,940 both for sound and for beauty. 597 00:31:34,940 --> 00:31:38,110 So they're really building a fine piece 598 00:31:38,110 --> 00:31:39,860 of furniture at the same time that they're 599 00:31:39,860 --> 00:31:41,420 building a fine instrument. 600 00:31:41,420 --> 00:31:42,080 Yeah. 601 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,430 AUDIENCE: Do you happen to know what these keys are made of? 602 00:31:45,430 --> 00:31:47,410 JEAN RIFE: I don't. 603 00:31:47,410 --> 00:31:50,450 I don't know woods that well, but you 604 00:31:50,450 --> 00:31:51,950 know, if there were an expert here-- 605 00:31:51,950 --> 00:31:53,960 you can see there are two kinds of wood. 606 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:59,540 Also notice that underneath the keys, if you come around here, 607 00:31:59,540 --> 00:32:01,460 are hollowed out. 608 00:32:01,460 --> 00:32:04,340 Some instruments have them even more hollowed out. 609 00:32:04,340 --> 00:32:06,710 Actually, the upper manual-- reach through. 610 00:32:06,710 --> 00:32:08,430 Just come and touch. 611 00:32:08,430 --> 00:32:13,740 If you go here-- well, that one-- you can feel those 612 00:32:13,740 --> 00:32:16,870 are hollowed out a little bit there. 613 00:32:16,870 --> 00:32:19,750 And the upper manual also. 614 00:32:19,750 --> 00:32:21,630 That's to make the keys lighter. 615 00:32:21,630 --> 00:32:22,814 AUDIENCE: Why are the uppers more hollowed out 616 00:32:22,814 --> 00:32:23,640 than the lower ones? 617 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:25,030 JEAN RIFE: I'm not sure they are now that I've 618 00:32:25,030 --> 00:32:26,370 put my fingers in there more. 619 00:32:26,370 --> 00:32:27,220 AUDIENCE: They are. 620 00:32:27,220 --> 00:32:28,053 JEAN RIFE: Are they? 621 00:32:28,053 --> 00:32:28,790 AUDIENCE: Yes. 622 00:32:28,790 --> 00:32:31,370 JEAN RIFE: That's a good question. 623 00:32:31,370 --> 00:32:33,040 I don't know. 624 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:35,140 That's an interesting question. 625 00:32:35,140 --> 00:32:40,300 I'm sure he had a reason, knowing harpsichord builders. 626 00:32:40,300 --> 00:32:42,230 There's so meticulous. 627 00:32:42,230 --> 00:32:44,061 Unbelievable. 628 00:32:44,061 --> 00:32:45,810 PROFESSOR: It's not the length of the key. 629 00:32:45,810 --> 00:32:47,996 Is it because the top manual can move in and out? 630 00:32:47,996 --> 00:32:49,495 Would that need a different balance? 631 00:32:49,495 --> 00:32:51,720 AUDIENCE: It's significantly more hollowed out. 632 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:53,700 JEAN RIFE: It's possible because the keys 633 00:32:53,700 --> 00:32:57,365 are closer to the plucking point that they want them lighter. 634 00:33:02,140 --> 00:33:05,380 Peter Sykes, my teacher, has a Flemish virginal, 635 00:33:05,380 --> 00:33:09,780 and as you get to the lower, the character of it, the strings, 636 00:33:09,780 --> 00:33:14,700 are coming here, and the plucking points 637 00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:17,860 get closer and closer to the keys the lower you get. 638 00:33:17,860 --> 00:33:22,270 So by the time you get down here in this register, 639 00:33:22,270 --> 00:33:24,840 they're very hard to push down, and if you get too far 640 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:26,670 into the key, you can't push them 641 00:33:26,670 --> 00:33:28,590 down at all because the pin might be right 642 00:33:28,590 --> 00:33:31,510 on the other side of the board, so you need more leverage. 643 00:33:31,510 --> 00:33:35,140 So it's possible that because you have less leverage 644 00:33:35,140 --> 00:33:37,480 here-- it's a theory. 645 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:39,240 Not sure. 646 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,350 And I think Mr. Dowd is dead. 647 00:33:41,350 --> 00:33:42,610 I think he died recently. 648 00:33:45,900 --> 00:33:50,050 Mr. Hubbard died in the '70s. 649 00:33:50,050 --> 00:33:53,620 Bill Dowd was around a lot longer. 650 00:33:53,620 --> 00:33:54,120 OK. 651 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:58,110 Any other questions about mechanics? 652 00:33:58,110 --> 00:34:00,451 Let's get some music going. 653 00:34:00,451 --> 00:34:00,950 OK. 654 00:34:04,226 --> 00:34:07,640 PROFESSOR: Even as Jean plays, we should move. 655 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:11,530 JEAN RIFE: Feel free to wander around. 656 00:34:11,530 --> 00:34:12,429 Look. 657 00:34:12,429 --> 00:34:14,630 Peek underneath. 658 00:34:14,630 --> 00:34:18,420 Listen to the harpsichord from different parts of the room 659 00:34:18,420 --> 00:34:23,199 because it does sound different in different areas. 660 00:34:23,199 --> 00:34:25,090 And feel free to peek over my shoulder 661 00:34:25,090 --> 00:34:27,290 if you want to look at the music. 662 00:34:27,290 --> 00:34:28,989 PROFESSOR: Are you using printed music 663 00:34:28,989 --> 00:34:30,639 or are you using your iPad? 664 00:34:30,639 --> 00:34:32,980 JEAN RIFE: I'm using my iPad, but it has music on it. 665 00:34:37,630 --> 00:34:41,850 One piece I'm playing with music if I get to it. 666 00:34:45,350 --> 00:34:48,760 PROFESSOR: And look underneath, too. 667 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:50,800 And we've got a piano next to it, 668 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:56,845 so we've got-- you can see how it's solid here, right? 669 00:34:56,845 --> 00:34:58,470 And if you look under the piano, you'll 670 00:34:58,470 --> 00:35:00,442 see that it's rather different. 671 00:35:00,442 --> 00:35:01,608 JEAN RIFE: Rather different. 672 00:35:07,900 --> 00:35:11,630 AUDIENCE: You know if we move the [INAUDIBLE] 673 00:35:11,630 --> 00:35:14,440 JEAN RIFE: I don't know what type of the wood this is. 674 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:16,890 The soundboard's generally spruce, I think. 675 00:35:25,590 --> 00:35:27,750 What is that called? 676 00:35:27,750 --> 00:35:29,068 What's this called? 677 00:35:29,068 --> 00:35:30,280 PROFESSOR: The medallion? 678 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:31,176 JEAN RIFE: Yeah. 679 00:35:31,176 --> 00:35:33,302 PROFESSOR: The sound hole? 680 00:35:33,302 --> 00:35:34,510 JEAN RIFE: That's what it is. 681 00:35:34,510 --> 00:35:35,010 Yeah. 682 00:35:35,010 --> 00:35:39,070 It's like an F-hole, but it's-- and you'll see different 683 00:35:39,070 --> 00:35:40,110 decorations in here. 684 00:35:40,110 --> 00:35:42,130 Some of these particles are beautifully painted. 685 00:35:42,130 --> 00:35:45,550 There's a woman in town, Sheridan German, who also wrote 686 00:35:45,550 --> 00:35:48,250 a book, but she used to make a living just painting 687 00:35:48,250 --> 00:35:51,770 harpsichord soundboards. 688 00:35:51,770 --> 00:35:54,100 Yeah, it is pretty cool. 689 00:35:54,100 --> 00:35:58,180 William Hyman, who was a great maker, was Jewish, 690 00:35:58,180 --> 00:36:05,070 so he always put Magen David in his harpsichords. 691 00:36:05,070 --> 00:36:08,150 And when David Way copied him, he did the same. 692 00:36:08,150 --> 00:36:11,780 So I'm going to just play a sampling of pieces 693 00:36:11,780 --> 00:36:15,570 from different countries so you get an idea of what 694 00:36:15,570 --> 00:36:17,250 stylistic differences existed. 695 00:36:20,500 --> 00:36:25,980 Be aware that some of these people traveled a lot. 696 00:36:25,980 --> 00:36:28,330 So we'll talk about each composer a little bit 697 00:36:28,330 --> 00:36:29,730 as we go along. 698 00:36:29,730 --> 00:36:31,930 I always run out of time. 699 00:36:31,930 --> 00:36:34,020 So this is William Byrd. 700 00:36:34,020 --> 00:36:36,850 A lot of people know him from singing. 701 00:36:39,710 --> 00:36:44,500 Wrote a lot of vocal music and a lot of keyboard music. 702 00:36:44,500 --> 00:36:53,110 These pieces are from Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, 703 00:36:53,110 --> 00:36:55,980 and I can't remember when that was discovered. 704 00:36:55,980 --> 00:36:57,770 It was discovered somewhere. 705 00:36:57,770 --> 00:37:01,470 A whole bunch of British composers. 706 00:37:01,470 --> 00:37:03,010 And it was collected. 707 00:37:03,010 --> 00:37:04,760 There all kinds of legends around it, 708 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:07,460 like somebody, this guy Tregian, maybe copied 709 00:37:07,460 --> 00:37:08,960 the whole thing in prison, except he 710 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:11,750 wasn't in prison long enough to really have done that. 711 00:37:11,750 --> 00:37:15,270 So there are lots of questions around what it was. 712 00:37:15,270 --> 00:37:20,340 There's no evidence that Queen Elizabeth I actually knew 713 00:37:20,340 --> 00:37:23,440 the book even though it was named for her. 714 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:24,790 She did play virginal. 715 00:37:24,790 --> 00:37:25,950 She was a good musician. 716 00:37:25,950 --> 00:37:27,690 So we know that. 717 00:37:27,690 --> 00:37:29,930 So legends grow up, and they're always fun. 718 00:37:29,930 --> 00:37:31,180 AUDIENCE: We like [INAUDIBLE]. 719 00:37:31,180 --> 00:37:32,310 JEAN RIFE: We do. 720 00:37:32,310 --> 00:37:34,240 So I'm going to play this with two eights. 721 00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:35,670 This is Wolsey's Wilde. 722 00:37:35,670 --> 00:37:37,330 A lot of these have great titles. 723 00:37:37,330 --> 00:37:41,380 This is one of the more down-to-earth titles. 724 00:37:41,380 --> 00:37:45,137 Wolsey's Wilde is just somebody's piece of land 725 00:37:45,137 --> 00:37:46,470 where people like to go hunting. 726 00:37:49,810 --> 00:37:51,950 And you notice what the baseline's doing. 727 00:37:51,950 --> 00:37:53,340 OK. 728 00:37:53,340 --> 00:37:55,431 [MUSIC - WILLIAM BYRD, "WOLSEY'S WILDE"] 729 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:31,380 So the baseline's very simple. 730 00:39:31,380 --> 00:39:34,110 Lot of variation in the writing. 731 00:39:34,110 --> 00:39:35,650 You hear that. 732 00:39:35,650 --> 00:39:39,528 I'm going to skip this next piece. 733 00:39:39,528 --> 00:39:42,570 I have a four-foot on my-- yup. 734 00:39:42,570 --> 00:39:46,960 And hop to Rome. 735 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,730 Frescobaldi was a great Roman organist. 736 00:39:53,450 --> 00:39:58,240 He started out at Santa Maria di Trastevere, 737 00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:00,110 which, if you've been to Rome, is 738 00:40:00,110 --> 00:40:02,320 on the other side of the Tiber River. 739 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:03,650 And it's a beautiful church. 740 00:40:03,650 --> 00:40:04,892 I've been there. 741 00:40:04,892 --> 00:40:06,600 So he was the organist there for a while, 742 00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:12,000 and then he went to Brussels and stayed for four years and came 743 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:16,270 back and ended up being the organist in Saint Peter's. 744 00:40:16,270 --> 00:40:20,050 But he was very well known. 745 00:40:20,050 --> 00:40:22,375 Toccata, as you know, is a touch piece. 746 00:40:25,170 --> 00:40:27,520 It's improvisatory. 747 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:31,440 He wrote it down, so we don't have to improvise it, 748 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:34,020 but it has that feeling to it. 749 00:40:39,509 --> 00:40:42,004 [MUSIC - GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI, "TOCCATA"] 750 00:45:31,720 --> 00:45:34,790 So you can see how he uses the sound of the harpsichord. 751 00:45:34,790 --> 00:45:37,390 This piece actually would be better played 752 00:45:37,390 --> 00:45:43,030 on the Italian harpsichord which lives up in my office 753 00:45:43,030 --> 00:45:43,640 right now. 754 00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:47,210 So if any of you want to come and try that sometime, 755 00:45:47,210 --> 00:45:52,095 just send me an email and I'll give you a little private demo. 756 00:45:52,095 --> 00:45:52,970 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 757 00:45:52,970 --> 00:45:53,636 JEAN RIFE: What? 758 00:45:53,636 --> 00:45:55,130 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 759 00:45:55,130 --> 00:45:58,330 JEAN RIFE: This is a French double. 760 00:45:58,330 --> 00:46:02,110 PROFESSOR: We were talking about how it fills the space, right? 761 00:46:02,110 --> 00:46:04,380 And that's partly the registration you've chosen 762 00:46:04,380 --> 00:46:06,920 but also just the way the instrument's constructed. 763 00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:09,130 JEAN RIFE: It's the way the instrument is constructed 764 00:46:09,130 --> 00:46:13,970 and wired and voiced, which means how thick the Delrin is, 765 00:46:13,970 --> 00:46:16,120 how it's shaped. 766 00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:20,100 All those little tiny details are what makes it. 767 00:46:20,100 --> 00:46:25,440 This instrument in particular, of all the instruments here, 768 00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:30,090 will fill this space more beautifully, really. 769 00:46:30,090 --> 00:46:31,040 It sings. 770 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:32,860 It really sings. 771 00:46:32,860 --> 00:46:33,360 Tommy. 772 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:37,040 AUDIENCE: Were there any duets for piano and harpsichord? 773 00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:40,080 JEAN RIFE: What an interesting question. 774 00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:43,680 Elliott Carter wrote a concerto for piano and harpsichord, 775 00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:47,640 I think, in the '50s or '60s. 776 00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:50,580 So that's one I know. 777 00:46:50,580 --> 00:46:54,510 I think there is a possibility of a lot of the keyboard 778 00:46:54,510 --> 00:46:56,230 duets being played. 779 00:46:56,230 --> 00:47:00,780 There's a C. P. E. Bach double, isn't there? 780 00:47:00,780 --> 00:47:01,490 Yeah. 781 00:47:01,490 --> 00:47:06,445 A harpsichord piano, forte piano, concerto, also. 782 00:47:06,445 --> 00:47:08,070 That was one of the first pieces I ever 783 00:47:08,070 --> 00:47:10,730 played when I was playing early US instruments. 784 00:47:10,730 --> 00:47:13,669 Horrible horn writing. 785 00:47:13,669 --> 00:47:15,960 PROFESSOR: Well, he learned to do that from his father. 786 00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:20,680 Johann would create double concertos, 787 00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:24,130 concerto for four harpsichords. 788 00:47:24,130 --> 00:47:28,110 He had a lot of fun with multiple harpsichord concertos. 789 00:47:28,110 --> 00:47:30,750 JEAN RIFE: Right. 790 00:47:30,750 --> 00:47:36,775 So Johann Jakob Froberger was German. 791 00:47:40,110 --> 00:47:43,150 I think he went to Vienna, and shortly after he got his job 792 00:47:43,150 --> 00:47:45,740 in Vienna, he applied for a grant 793 00:47:45,740 --> 00:47:50,530 to go study with Frescobaldi and spent quite a bit of time 794 00:47:50,530 --> 00:47:51,790 with Frescobaldi. 795 00:47:51,790 --> 00:47:56,270 Froberger also went to England. 796 00:47:56,270 --> 00:48:00,910 There's a famous piece that he wrote after he went to England. 797 00:48:00,910 --> 00:48:02,510 He had a horrible time in England 798 00:48:02,510 --> 00:48:05,820 and was robbed by pirates on his way over 799 00:48:05,820 --> 00:48:12,900 and wrote a lament about that that event. 800 00:48:12,900 --> 00:48:16,150 This particular one is "Meditation." 801 00:48:16,150 --> 00:48:18,410 Who knows French in here? 802 00:48:18,410 --> 00:48:20,730 A little bit? 803 00:48:20,730 --> 00:48:24,400 "Meditation fate sur ma mort future 804 00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:29,560 la quelle se joue lentament avec discretion." 805 00:48:29,560 --> 00:48:35,340 So he's writing about his own future death. 806 00:48:35,340 --> 00:48:45,080 In this, at the end he wrote, "Momento mori, Froberger." 807 00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:47,460 So the very last note is when he dies. 808 00:48:50,820 --> 00:48:54,250 You can hear some of the influence of Frescobaldi 809 00:48:54,250 --> 00:48:58,870 in this meditation, but you can also hear French influence. 810 00:48:58,870 --> 00:49:05,300 He was a very well traveled and very well known and highly 811 00:49:05,300 --> 00:49:07,320 respected composer of his time. 812 00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:10,230 Only recently started being rediscovered. 813 00:49:10,230 --> 00:49:12,550 We don't know a lot about his life, 814 00:49:12,550 --> 00:49:15,900 but we do know he was around. 815 00:49:15,900 --> 00:49:19,402 So I'm going to do this also on one eight. 816 00:49:19,402 --> 00:49:22,501 I'll try and get my foot petal working a little bit better 817 00:49:22,501 --> 00:49:23,000 here. 818 00:49:26,855 --> 00:49:29,438 [MUSIC - JOHANN JAKOB FROBERGER, "MEDITATION FAITE SUR MA MORT 819 00:49:29,438 --> 00:49:31,483 FUTURE"] 820 00:51:58,410 --> 00:52:01,480 So that would normally have two repeats in it 821 00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:06,460 so you could enjoy it a lot longer. 822 00:52:06,460 --> 00:52:08,280 PROFESSOR: Can we talk about ornaments? 823 00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:10,820 JEAN RIFE: Yes. 824 00:52:10,820 --> 00:52:13,950 PROFESSOR: There were a few you added yourself-- or is this all 825 00:52:13,950 --> 00:52:15,430 designated by Froberger? 826 00:52:15,430 --> 00:52:18,510 JEAN RIFE: All the ornaments are designated by Froberger 827 00:52:18,510 --> 00:52:20,140 in here. 828 00:52:20,140 --> 00:52:23,320 You have the choice of whether to do them or not, 829 00:52:23,320 --> 00:52:25,600 and you have a choice of whether to add more. 830 00:52:32,720 --> 00:52:35,685 Ornaments come in several different styles. 831 00:52:39,160 --> 00:52:44,430 In the Byrd, you have two little lines across the top, 832 00:52:44,430 --> 00:52:46,320 and I can show you that later. 833 00:52:46,320 --> 00:52:49,120 And there's a question about what those little things mean. 834 00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:55,890 And so if we're coming from below, we go one direction. 835 00:52:55,890 --> 00:52:58,220 We just do a little mordent or a trill. 836 00:52:58,220 --> 00:53:01,680 And if you're coming from above, you do the other direction. 837 00:53:01,680 --> 00:53:06,160 Sometimes if you have two notes together 838 00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:07,620 and he puts that little thing over, 839 00:53:07,620 --> 00:53:10,890 we'll do just this-- what's that called? 840 00:53:10,890 --> 00:53:13,110 A coule de tierce. 841 00:53:13,110 --> 00:53:15,600 You have a little thing that joins the third. 842 00:53:18,430 --> 00:53:24,010 And we also can fill in between notes. 843 00:53:24,010 --> 00:53:27,180 So, lots of things we can do with ornaments. 844 00:53:27,180 --> 00:53:31,840 I don't like to overdo them if it cuts away from the line. 845 00:53:31,840 --> 00:53:36,720 You find a lot more in the French music. 846 00:53:36,720 --> 00:53:40,340 I'm going to do the Louis Couperin here. 847 00:53:40,340 --> 00:53:43,780 This is a really interesting-- you saw all the whole notes 848 00:53:43,780 --> 00:53:44,510 in here. 849 00:53:44,510 --> 00:53:47,910 So why don't you come up and look at this. 850 00:53:47,910 --> 00:53:51,510 Louis Couperin only lived to be 35. 851 00:53:51,510 --> 00:53:55,030 He published none of his music in his lifetime. 852 00:53:55,030 --> 00:53:56,860 But he came from a musical family, 853 00:53:56,860 --> 00:53:59,380 and Francois Couperin was his nephew, 854 00:53:59,380 --> 00:54:04,280 Francois "the Great," who put out tremendous amounts of music 855 00:54:04,280 --> 00:54:05,550 in his lifetime. 856 00:54:05,550 --> 00:54:10,620 Louis was working on a different career path. 857 00:54:10,620 --> 00:54:17,180 He was an organist in Saint Gervais in Paris eventually, 858 00:54:17,180 --> 00:54:19,935 and a very, very talented musician. 859 00:54:19,935 --> 00:54:21,570 Wrote a lot of different things. 860 00:54:21,570 --> 00:54:24,550 But this unmeasured prelude is a lot of whole notes, 861 00:54:24,550 --> 00:54:28,530 but there are things to point out, which you've probably 862 00:54:28,530 --> 00:54:29,160 talked about. 863 00:54:29,160 --> 00:54:34,360 The lines that go where you hold these notes longer. 864 00:54:34,360 --> 00:54:38,300 And when you see two notes close together like this, 865 00:54:38,300 --> 00:54:42,470 it's almost always like this. 866 00:54:42,470 --> 00:54:46,836 When you see a chord being filled in, it's not-- 867 00:54:46,836 --> 00:54:48,222 [PLAYS CHORDS] 868 00:54:50,090 --> 00:54:51,410 Not all the same length. 869 00:54:51,410 --> 00:54:52,851 When you see a chord, you can do-- 870 00:54:52,851 --> 00:54:54,324 [PLAYS CHORDS] 871 00:54:55,800 --> 00:55:00,240 So that's written-out ornaments around a broken chord, 872 00:55:00,240 --> 00:55:03,070 basically. 873 00:55:03,070 --> 00:55:07,970 And there are other places here. 874 00:55:07,970 --> 00:55:09,090 Here's a little ornament. 875 00:55:09,090 --> 00:55:11,965 He actually writes in a little mordent here. 876 00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:15,955 No, I'm done with you. 877 00:55:19,240 --> 00:55:21,920 Sometimes you want to add a rhythm, you see. 878 00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:23,360 [PLAYS MUSIC] 879 00:55:26,240 --> 00:55:28,380 You might want to add a rhythm to that. 880 00:55:28,380 --> 00:55:31,640 So they just look-- they're all whole notes. 881 00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:36,010 And then there's something else I wanted to show you 882 00:55:36,010 --> 00:55:38,610 which I'm not seeing right now. 883 00:55:42,240 --> 00:55:44,200 I think that's going to be about it. 884 00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:47,339 So all those kinds of things can happen. 885 00:55:47,339 --> 00:55:48,880 You do have a lot of freedom in here, 886 00:55:48,880 --> 00:55:51,570 and it's not exactly the same every time I play it. 887 00:55:51,570 --> 00:55:54,080 So let's just do this one, this little prelude. 888 00:55:56,780 --> 00:55:58,430 This is about three and 1/2 minutes. 889 00:56:05,530 --> 00:56:07,145 And I do just one eight one this. 890 00:56:07,145 --> 00:56:09,266 It's my favorite. 891 00:56:09,266 --> 00:56:11,756 [PLAYS MUSIC] 892 00:59:56,354 --> 00:59:58,090 So that's Louis. 893 01:00:02,282 --> 01:00:04,430 Do you love that as much as I do? 894 01:00:04,430 --> 01:00:06,382 PROFESSOR: Oh, yeah. 895 01:00:06,382 --> 01:00:07,358 You guys? 896 01:00:07,358 --> 01:00:08,340 AUDIENCE: Yeah. 897 01:00:08,340 --> 01:00:10,640 JEAN RIFE: I just think it's really incredible, 898 01:00:10,640 --> 01:00:12,570 and it's so surprising sometimes. 899 01:00:12,570 --> 01:00:13,450 You just-- whoa. 900 01:00:13,450 --> 01:00:14,380 My goodness. 901 01:00:14,380 --> 01:00:15,380 How did he get there? 902 01:00:15,380 --> 01:00:16,299 I just-- 903 01:00:16,299 --> 01:00:17,840 PROFESSOR: Well, I think that's true. 904 01:00:17,840 --> 01:00:20,680 The Frescobaldi, the Byrd-- they all 905 01:00:20,680 --> 01:00:24,470 have these moments of surprise, and I 906 01:00:24,470 --> 01:00:28,510 think we don't expect that out of harpsichord music 907 01:00:28,510 --> 01:00:30,182 or these composers. 908 01:00:30,182 --> 01:00:30,890 JEAN RIFE: Right. 909 01:00:30,890 --> 01:00:33,660 You get used to hearing Corelli and Vivaldi 910 01:00:33,660 --> 01:00:37,550 as your baroque music go-to people, 911 01:00:37,550 --> 01:00:39,990 and as great is that music is, it's not 912 01:00:39,990 --> 01:00:43,990 so full of surprises as this. 913 01:00:43,990 --> 01:00:46,120 PROFESSOR: The other thing-- as you guys 914 01:00:46,120 --> 01:00:49,220 have been going around the room, the sound of the instrument 915 01:00:49,220 --> 01:00:50,410 changes. 916 01:00:50,410 --> 01:00:54,860 And what I just tested out for myself-- the chiff, 917 01:00:54,860 --> 01:00:57,360 or the kind of resistance-- you can almost 918 01:00:57,360 --> 01:01:01,990 hear it more in the back of the space than in the front. 919 01:01:01,990 --> 01:01:06,110 Is that-- have you guys-- wander around. 920 01:01:06,110 --> 01:01:07,610 Tell me if I'm right. 921 01:01:07,610 --> 01:01:10,430 I just find that fascinating, how the sound can 922 01:01:10,430 --> 01:01:12,110 change based on where you are. 923 01:01:12,110 --> 01:01:12,990 JEAN RIFE: Exactly. 924 01:01:12,990 --> 01:01:13,640 Yeah. 925 01:01:13,640 --> 01:01:16,340 And it would sound different in a different room. 926 01:01:16,340 --> 01:01:18,120 I mean, I always felt like nicest place 927 01:01:18,120 --> 01:01:22,780 to hear a harpsichord was in a really small, small space, 928 01:01:22,780 --> 01:01:27,380 chamber setting, but it could be pretty nice in a larger one, 929 01:01:27,380 --> 01:01:29,160 too. 930 01:01:29,160 --> 01:01:30,110 Let's see. 931 01:01:30,110 --> 01:01:31,340 It's hard for me to choose. 932 01:01:31,340 --> 01:01:33,220 It was hard for me to choose this music 933 01:01:33,220 --> 01:01:35,740 because there's so much great music and every composer 934 01:01:35,740 --> 01:01:39,220 has so many different styles. 935 01:01:39,220 --> 01:01:44,510 I think I'd like to-- well, the [INAUDIBLE] is really 936 01:01:44,510 --> 01:01:47,090 pretty short, so I want to just play-- 937 01:01:47,090 --> 01:01:50,590 oh, there's the chaconne, too. 938 01:01:50,590 --> 01:01:52,450 Let me play the chaconne for you. 939 01:01:52,450 --> 01:01:56,220 This is a different kind of Louis Couperin. 940 01:01:56,220 --> 01:01:59,180 And I'm going to put two eights on for this, 941 01:01:59,180 --> 01:02:02,680 but I'm going to be moving a little bit from one keyboard 942 01:02:02,680 --> 01:02:09,780 to another for a little sound variation. 943 01:02:09,780 --> 01:02:12,180 This is the only piece I'm doing that in. 944 01:02:12,180 --> 01:02:14,070 And the chaconne-- he keeps coming back. 945 01:02:14,070 --> 01:02:16,070 It's almost like a rondo form. 946 01:02:16,070 --> 01:02:19,740 You do the tune, and then you do a little in between. 947 01:02:19,740 --> 01:02:21,930 Then you come back and do it again and then 948 01:02:21,930 --> 01:02:22,970 again and then again. 949 01:02:22,970 --> 01:02:24,340 So you'll hear. 950 01:02:27,784 --> 01:02:30,244 [PLAYS MUSIC] 951 01:02:45,510 --> 01:02:47,136 Oh, I want that to happen. 952 01:02:47,136 --> 01:02:49,626 [PLAYS MUSIC] 953 01:04:35,280 --> 01:04:37,590 So you can hear how he really takes advantage 954 01:04:37,590 --> 01:04:40,950 of the low register of the instrument, 955 01:04:40,950 --> 01:04:43,050 and a lot of French music is like that. 956 01:04:43,050 --> 01:04:45,090 That really takes advantage of it. 957 01:04:45,090 --> 01:04:49,090 Bach does it also in his-- I want to wrap up, 958 01:04:49,090 --> 01:04:54,640 but he does it in one of his French Suites. 959 01:04:54,640 --> 01:04:56,700 I'm leaving out all kinds of people 960 01:04:56,700 --> 01:04:59,800 I'd love to share with you, but you'll have a chance 961 01:04:59,800 --> 01:05:01,801 to hear more music. 962 01:05:01,801 --> 01:05:03,800 And I'm just going to play the beginning of this 963 01:05:03,800 --> 01:05:05,550 and then let you guys play some. 964 01:05:05,550 --> 01:05:10,510 This is the Allemande from the E-flat French Suite. 965 01:05:13,610 --> 01:05:15,877 And back to one eight. 966 01:05:15,877 --> 01:05:18,362 [PLAYS MUSIC] 967 01:06:02,110 --> 01:06:04,890 So you can hear how he uses the low register, 968 01:06:04,890 --> 01:06:10,070 but he's also using a steel brise to imitate lute guitar 969 01:06:10,070 --> 01:06:13,050 playing from earlier. 970 01:06:13,050 --> 01:06:16,110 They were all influenced a lot by Denis Gaultier, 971 01:06:16,110 --> 01:06:20,660 who was a lute composer in France earlier. 972 01:06:20,660 --> 01:06:25,060 So you know, these are all individual sixteenth notes, 973 01:06:25,060 --> 01:06:31,050 but we hold them though to create the chords. 974 01:06:31,050 --> 01:06:33,540 So come try. 975 01:06:36,800 --> 01:06:39,510 And ask any questions that you'd like. 976 01:06:39,510 --> 01:06:41,510 PROFESSOR: There's a resonance to the instrument 977 01:06:41,510 --> 01:06:44,970 that we maybe don't give it credit for, right? 978 01:06:44,970 --> 01:06:47,930 The thing is, harpsichords never sustain. 979 01:06:47,930 --> 01:06:49,490 Pianos do. 980 01:06:49,490 --> 01:06:52,740 But I think today has belied that, right? 981 01:06:52,740 --> 01:06:54,410 There's a sustain to this instrument 982 01:06:54,410 --> 01:06:56,490 that we don't necessarily give it credit for. 983 01:06:56,490 --> 01:06:57,198 JEAN RIFE: Right. 984 01:06:57,198 --> 01:06:58,760 It really does. 985 01:06:58,760 --> 01:07:01,530 This one especially really blossoms in the space, 986 01:07:01,530 --> 01:07:02,470 and you can hear that. 987 01:07:02,470 --> 01:07:02,800 [AUDIO OUT] 988 01:07:02,800 --> 01:07:03,883 PROFESSOR: --sound at all? 989 01:07:03,883 --> 01:07:06,260 Or can you-- is it different? 990 01:07:06,260 --> 01:07:07,280 Do you feel it? 991 01:07:09,900 --> 01:07:10,650 AUDIENCE: Kind of. 992 01:07:10,650 --> 01:07:12,490 You [INAUDIBLE]. 993 01:07:12,490 --> 01:07:13,410 PROFESSOR: Yeah. 994 01:07:13,410 --> 01:07:16,680 So that's why they often play harpsichord as the instrument, 995 01:07:16,680 --> 01:07:17,410 right? 996 01:07:17,410 --> 01:07:19,140 You all got to try the organ. 997 01:07:19,140 --> 01:07:20,150 How's this different? 998 01:07:23,927 --> 01:07:24,819 Try again. 999 01:07:24,819 --> 01:07:25,360 There you go. 1000 01:07:25,360 --> 01:07:26,930 You got the lute stop. 1001 01:07:26,930 --> 01:07:27,620 Right? 1002 01:07:27,620 --> 01:07:31,430 But until the key actually comes back up, 1003 01:07:31,430 --> 01:07:33,620 you can't reiterate the sound, right? 1004 01:07:33,620 --> 01:07:35,910 And it's a much slower-- if you're used to a piano, 1005 01:07:35,910 --> 01:07:38,451 you're not going to be able to do it as quickly as you think, 1006 01:07:38,451 --> 01:07:39,180 right? 1007 01:07:39,180 --> 01:07:39,787 Cool. 1008 01:07:39,787 --> 01:07:42,120 Well, you're in the lute now, so if you go to the right, 1009 01:07:42,120 --> 01:07:43,450 you'll engage the other sound. 1010 01:07:43,450 --> 01:07:44,771 There you go. 1011 01:07:44,771 --> 01:07:46,312 AUDIENCE: First string's [INAUDIBLE], 1012 01:07:46,312 --> 01:07:48,699 but then each note-- you don't have to tune each note. 1013 01:07:48,699 --> 01:07:50,990 JEAN RIFE: Well, I mean, there are three stops on here, 1014 01:07:50,990 --> 01:07:56,220 so you'll have three strings for every note. 1015 01:07:56,220 --> 01:07:57,166 AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 1016 01:07:57,166 --> 01:07:58,166 JEAN RIFE: I don't know. 1017 01:07:58,166 --> 01:08:02,410 Piano-- it's much more difficult to tune that. 1018 01:08:02,410 --> 01:08:05,827 And also, when you're tuning for-- 1019 01:08:05,827 --> 01:08:07,660 AUDIENCE: It's supposed to be one eight or-- 1020 01:08:07,660 --> 01:08:10,780 JEAN RIFE: You put one times eight-foot. 1021 01:08:10,780 --> 01:08:14,200 If you want two times eight or two times eight plus 1022 01:08:14,200 --> 01:08:14,880 four-foot-- 1023 01:08:14,880 --> 01:08:15,588 AUDIENCE: Gotcha. 1024 01:08:15,588 --> 01:08:17,010 JEAN RIFE: You can do that. 1025 01:08:17,010 --> 01:08:19,910 AUDIENCE: Do many people in the baroque [INAUDIBLE]?