Plucky Strings and Peppy Percussion Strings and Percussion    

Lesson 25: Harpsichord - Duuiensela

by Antonio de Cabezón

Performer: Joan Benson

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

The next several lessons feature instruments with keyboards. This lesson introduces the harpsichord, a keyboard instrument. Some categorizations of instruments classify harpsichords as string instruments, for harpsichords have strings. Unlike string instruments such as violins, guitars, and lutes, people do not strum or pluck the strings of harpsichords directly. Instead, people press keys and a mechanism inside the harpsichord plucks its strings. Popular in the late 18th century, the harpsichord was eventually replaced by the piano. The musical composition for this lesson, 'Duuiensela,' by Antonio de Cabezón, features the music of a harpsichord. The painting included in the lesson, 'Family Group at a Harpsichord,' by Cornelis Troost, shows a family gathered around a harpsichord.

Vocabulary

Keyboard: A set of keys on a piano or similar musical instrument.
Keyboard Instrument: An instrument played with a keyboard.
Keys: A lever depressed by the finger in playing an instrument such as the organ, piano, or flute.
Harpsichord: A keyboard instrument with horizontal strings that are plucked by pressing its keys.

Category

Music lessons over the next two years group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

Keyboards include instruments played using a set of keys. Keys are levers pressed by the musician's fingers.

Keyboard instruments include harpsichords, pianos, and organs.

Look at the picture of a keyboard.

Examine a closeup of keys below.

See another picture of a keyboard below. Find the keys and find the strings.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Study the Parts of a Harpsichord

• Study the parts on the labeled picture of the harpsichord.

Activity 2: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson image, 'Family Group at a Harpsichord,' by Cornelis Troost, and find the following:

• Woman Playing the Harpsichord
• Doll
• Dog
• Harpsichord
• Harpsichord Lid
• Harpsichord Leg
• Harpsichord Keyboard

Review

Question 1

What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson?

1 / 5

Answer 1

The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 5

Question 2

Which instrument group does this lesson feature?

2 / 5

Answer 2

This lesson features the keyboard group.

2 / 5

Question 3

Which keyboard instrument does this lesson feature?

3 / 5

Answer 3

This lesson features the harpsichord.

3 / 5

Question 4

What are the major parts of the harpsichord?

4 / 5

Answer 4

Major parts of the harpsichord include the case, the keyboard, the legs, the lid, and the lid stick.

4 / 5

Question 5

How do musicians make sounds with a harpsichord?

5 / 5

Answer 5

Musicians use both hands to press keys, which trigger a mechanism to pluck strings within the harpsichord case.

5 / 5

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson? The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which instrument group does this lesson feature? This lesson features the keyboard group.
3. Which keyboard instrument does this lesson feature? This lesson features the harpsichord.
4. What are the major parts of the harpsichord? Major parts of the harpsichord include the case, the keyboard, the legs, the lid, and the lid stick.
5. How do musicians make sounds with a harpsichord? Musicians use both hands to press keys, which trigger a mechanism to pluck strings within the harpsichord case.

References

'Keyboard instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Picture of Keyboard and Strings (CC BY-SA 3.0).' Wikipedia. File:MDMB 418, detall de clavicèmbal, Christian Zell, Museu de la Música de Barcelona.jpg. n.p.

'Clavecin par Andreas Ruckers (Anvers, 1646) ravalé par Pascal Taskin (Paris, 1780) (CC BY-SA 3.0).' Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpsichord#/media/File:ClavecinRuckers%26Taskin.JPG. n.p.

'Duuiensela performed by Joan Benson (CC BY-SA 3.0).' Musopen. Musopen.org. n.p.