Clavichord for Beginners

Beginners, and keyboard players from other disciplines, will profit immensely from Benson's detailed analysis of clavichord touch; the dynamic variation in her own playing, particularly her enviable pianissimos, is the best advertisement for it. The publication as a whole should appeal to a much wider public, however, as a visual and audio document of a notable twentieth-century pioneer of the clavichord revival.60 October 2014 * British Clavichord Society Newsletter *

Joan Benson has performed throughout the world, garnering respect of classical music enthusiasts and major contemporary composers. Her advocacy of modern Western music led her to Olivier Messiaen's class at the Paris Conservatoire, to the University of Utrecht Institute of Sonology, and to Stanford's Center for computer Research in Music and Acoustics. She has taught on the faculty at Stanford University, the University of Oregon, and the Aston Magna Academy in Massachusetts.

Introduction 1. Clavichord for all Keyboardists What is a Clavichord? Clavichord for Keyboard Beginners For Harpsichordists For Players of Early Piano For Modern Pianists For Organists For Singing Clavichordists A Personal Note for Aspiring Clavichordists 2. Preparing to Play Ways of Relaxing Touch Awareness Finger Awareness, Seated Finger Interaction, Seated Exercise For Finger Independence Exercise For Flexible Wrists Getting to Know Your Clavichord Position at the Keyboard Control of Tone and Pitch 3. Clavichord Lessons Series I Lesson One: Lowering a Key Soundlessly Lesson Two: Making a Sound Lesson Three: Playing Two Notes in a Row Lesson Four: Including a Raised Key Lesson Five: Bach's Cantabile Touch Lesson Six: Producing a Cantabile (Singing) Sound Lesson Seven: Cantabile with Fingers 4 and 5 Lesson Eight: Cantabile With the Thumb Lesson Nine: Cantabile on two Successive Notes Lesson Ten: Playing Five Notes in a Row Lesson Eleven: Timing Lesson Twelve: Five Finger Exercise 4. Clavichord Lessons, Series II Lesson One: Degrees of Softness Lesson Two: Degrees of Loudness Lesson Three: Crescendo and Diminuendo on Five Notes Lesson Four: Contrast in Dynamics, Two Hands Lesson Five: Articulation on Single Notes Lesson Six: Articulation on Two Notes Lesson Seven: Leaping with one Finger Lesson Eight: Playing Intervals Lesson Nine: For a Flexible Thumb Lesson Ten: The Makings of a Scale 5. Preparing for Pieces 6. Eleven Easy Pieces 7. Exploring the Past: 15th Through 17th Centuries 8. Exploring the Past: Eighteenth-Century Germany 9. Exploring the Present and Future Selected Bibliography Extended bibliography Index About the Author