Harpsichord vs Piano: How Different Are They Really? 

hello! thanks for the video, i would love to have a harpsichord, but i only hear that cost 25k of dollars, i´m from mexico city, any idea where can i find someting available in terms of money; where are you yamaha when we need you!! jajajaja

Yeah I noticed that too. BTW There are touch sensative Harpsichords & Pedal Harpsichords which allow you to play Organ pieces on a Piano.

More demonstrations of good touch on harpsichord as opposed to bad touch

When you were demonstrating the "on the string" play style, I noticed that when the plectrum came back to it's resting position, it created a harmonic. Are the plectrums placed at a harmonic position on every string, or just some of them? And if it's on every string, is this intentional so as to affect the overall sound of the harpsichord by increasing the amount of harmonic resonance, or is there potentially some other reason behind it such as increasing the amount of time the string will continue to vibrate regardless of the harmonic tones? Thank you for the video, as it answered the primary question I had sought when I began my search today!

When you said "the piano is older than the harpsichord", I thought you were going to mention the unsuccessful Medieval attempt to invent a keyboard hammered dulcimer preceding the actual piano by a few centuries and set in at least the dawn time of the harpsichord and clavichord.

How would a harpsichord be velocity sensitive? I do not play plucked string instruments, but it is my understanding that dynamics on plucked strings are controlled more so by how far the string is displaced from its rest position than how fast it is plucked. It is precisely for this reason that harpsichords have very little dynamic range. For true dynamics on harpsichord, you'd have to have a way to control how far the string is displaced from its rest position, but how? How would you control that just by pushing down the keys faster or slower? If it was done via a pedal mechanism or something, where you control the proximity between the jack and strings for instance, I could maybe see that working, but controlling that via the keyboard alone? Hmm...

@@justinnaramor6050 A Pedal Mechanism which is like the Volume Pedal on a Hammond

@@RockStarOscarStern634 Right, that was precisely what I was thinking when I mentioned a pedal mechanism. But that's a pedal... that's not a matter of controlling dynamics directly from the keyboard. When you said "velocity sensitive" harpsichord I figured you meant something that directly uses the keyboard to control dynamics.

Thank you for watching!

Thanks so much, Victoria! And thanks for watching!

On a basic level, a keyboard with no dynamic response light action (one that only requires the strength of the fingers to depress the keys) is fine. If you want to dive deep, it is better to have a an acoustic instrument. It is fine if you change from an electronic to an acoustic instrument after some years of playing and if you are on a tight budget you might want to buy a spinet or a virginal (they are still expensive but less expensive than a harpsichord)

Thanks!

Suite in E minor, HWV 438, III. Jigg (by Handel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IjCMCLlBK3w.html

@@manfredholt7329 Oh, sorry. I meant when she starts playing at 2:14. Thanks for responding 😀

@@danielj9042 Haha, sorry, I really don't know what she played then. Sounds like early Baroque.

@@manfredholt7329 lol well, maybe she will tell us at some point 🥰

Sounds like a Renaissance piece, but which of the countless pieces out there it could be...? 🤷🏻‍♂️

That is indeed what I said, but it is (of course) an error that I somehow didn't catch when I was editing the video! :) I tried to have a card come up on the screen at that time correcting the error, and I also mentioned it in my pinned comment, but it's still forever in the video, haha!

Hi, harpsichord student here. About your first question: there are differences in touch between both instruments. The principal difference resides in the strength necessary to play. The harpsichord has a lighter and shallower action than the piano, meaning that only the strength of the fingers is used to play the keys (keep in mind that some harpsichords have a much heavier action than others, so you might need the strength of your hands in some situations). If you play the harpsichord with the strength you regularly use on a piano, not only the notes will sound harsh, but you will also hear an annoying percussive sound that is a result from the jacks hitting the upper rail. Also, having your hands and arms relaxed makes playing fast easier. About your second question: I believe it is certainly easier to produce a "good" sound on the harpsichord since you don't have to worry about the dynamics. On the other hand, playing expressively is harder, as you will have to know how to manage without dynamics. This is, in my opinion, the biggest difficulty in harpsichord playing and also the reason why many pianists find the harpsichord a boring instrument to play (they think the harpsichord is an expressionless and easier to play instrument, without realizing that the difficulty of the harpsichord resides in using subtle playing nuances to produce expression). My advice here is to find a teacher AND listen to professional harpsichordists (my favorite ones are Ketil Haugsand, Scott Ross and Jean Rondeau). Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your third question. You probably already know this, but if you want to get a harpsichord you should learn how to tune (it's much easier than to tune a piano, don't worry) Best of luck with your harpsichord journey, I hope this was helpful :)

@@titorosado6198 Thanks for your reply! Interesting to know about the nuances for a harpsichord; I can recall some techniques from recordings. Playing expressively is difficult on the harpsichord. And yes, I was aware that all harpsichordists have to tune their harpsichords constantly as the harpsichord has a wooden frame, rather than a metal frame that pianos have. Unfortunately, there are no harpsichord teachers in my area, but I'll keep an eye out in the future. Thanks for the recommendations. My favorite harpsichordists are Kenneth Gilbert and Scott Ross. Also, I found the piece in the introduction, Suite in E minor, HWV 438, III. Jigg (by Handel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IjCMCLlBK3w.html Thanks for your kind and helpful words.

@@manfredholt7329 You're welcome, glad I could help! I'm sorry to hear that there are no teachers in your area. The name Kenneth Gilbert rings a bell but I think I never heard a recording by him. I'll check him out. And thanks for indicating the piece in the introduction!

@@titorosado6198 No problem. Have fun listening to Kenneth Gilbert!

Check out this channel : John Moraitis He was a pianist who switched to harpsichord. He explains many advanced things, but you'll get an idea of the baroque harpsichord performance.

Yeah, she just misspoke and didn't catch it

Piano came after the Harpsichord.

@@akshitsharma8475 It actually did and Alice corrected it in the description