Changes

[[Image:Clavichord.jpg|thumb|right|300px]]

[[Image:Clavichord.jpg|thumb|right|300px]]

The  '''clavichord''' is an early keyboard instrument related to the [[dulcimer]]. Its keys operate wooden levers which at the other control small metal rods called  “tangents.” The tangents do not create sound by plucking the string like a [[harpsichord]], or by striking it like the [[piano]], but rather by keeping the key suppressed at a particular or varying pressure. The resulting sound is quite small, but because the tangent stays pressed onto the string, the player can keep direct control over the tone and even impart vibrato, much as a contemporary [[lute]]nist or [[viol]] player could with his fingers on the fretboard. Also, by varying the pressure, the clavichord player has access to a large [[dynamics|dynamic]] range -- within the instrument's very quiet overall sound -- a trait unique to the instrument before the appearance of the fortepiano in the 1740's.

The  '''clavichord''' is an early keyboard instrument related to the [[dulcimer]]. Its keys operate wooden levers which at the other control small metal rods called  “tangents.” The tangents do not create sound by plucking the string like a [[harpsichord]], or by striking it like the [[piano]], but rather by keeping the key suppressed at a particular or varying pressure. The resulting sound is quite small, but because the tangent stays pressed onto the string, the player can keep direct control over the tone and even impart vibrato, much as a contemporary [[lute]]nist or [[viol]] player could with his fingers on the fretboard. Also, by varying the pressure, the clavichord player has access to a large [[dynamics|dynamic]] range -- within the instrument's very quiet overall sound -- a trait unique to the instrument before the appearance of the fortepiano in the 1740's.