"of the 16th century to the later 17th century until the high baroque period when it was eclipsed in England by the bentside spinet and in Germany by the clavichord. Spinet virginals (not to be confused with the spinet) were made principally in Italy (Italian: ""spinetta""), England and Flanders (). The keyboard is placed left of centre, and the strings are plucked at one end, although further from the bridge than in the harpsichord. This is the more common arrangement for modern instruments, and an instrument described simply as a ""virginal"" is likely to be a spinet virginals. The principal"
"Spinet A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ. When the term ""spinet"" is used to designate a harpsichord, typically what is meant is the ""bentside spinet"", described in this section. For other uses, see below. The bentside spinet shares most of its characteristics with the full-size instrument, including action, soundboard, and case construction. What primarily distinguishes the spinet is the angle of its strings: whereas in a full-size harpsichord, the strings are at a 90-degree angle to the keyboard (that is, they are parallel to the player's gaze); and"
"and less intimidating to learn. One feature of the spinet was automatic chord generation; with many models, the organist could produce an entire chord to accompany the melody merely by playing the tonic note, i.e., a single key, on a special section of the manual. On spinet organs, the keyboards were typically at least an octave shorter than is normal for organs, with the upper manual (typically 44 notes, F3–C7 in Scientific Pitch Notation) omitting the bass, and the lower manual (typically F2–C6) omitting the treble. The manuals were usually offset, inviting but not requiring the new organist to dedicate"
"and spinet pianos. The spinet organ physically resembled a small upright piano, and presented simplified controls and functions that were both less expensive to produce and less intimidating to learn than other organs. Spinet A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ. When the term ""spinet"" is used to designate a harpsichord, typically what is meant is the ""bentside spinet"", described in this section. For other uses, see below. The bentside spinet shares most of its characteristics with the full-size instrument, including action, soundboard, and case construction. What primarily distinguishes"
"dated 1700, of the many instruments kept by Prince Ferdinando. Stewart Pollens conjectures that this inventory was prepared by a court musician named Giovanni Fuga, who may have referred to it as his own in a 1716 letter. The spinettone, Italian for ""big spinet"", was a large, multi-choired spinet (a harpsichord in which the strings are slanted to save space), with disposition 1 x 8', 1 x 4'; most spinets have the simple disposition 1 x 8'. This invention may have been meant to fit into a crowded orchestra pit for theatrical performances, while having the louder sound of a"
"very short sides at the right rear and on the left, connecting the bentside to the long side and the long side to the front. The other major aspect of spinet design is that the strings are arranged in pairs. The gap between the two strings of a pair is about four millimetres, and the wider gap between pairs is about ten. The jacks (which pluck the strings (see harpsichord)) are arranged in pairs as well, placed in the wider gap. They face in opposite directions, plucking the adjacent string on either side of the wider gap. The fact that"
"Italian term, ""spinetta ovale"". Evidently, 17th-century Italian used the term ""spinetta"" more loosely than 21st-century English uses ""spinet."". The following reference materials were used in preparing this article. Oval spinet The oval spinet is a type of harpsichord invented in the late 17th century by Bartolomeo Cristofori, the Italian instrument maker who later achieved fame for inventing the piano. The oval spinet was unusual for its shape, the arrangement of its strings, and for its mechanism for changing registration. The two oval spinets built by Cristofori survive today. One, built in 1690, is kept in the Museo degli strumenti musicali,"
"in a virginals they are parallel to the keyboard, in a spinet the strings are at an angle of about 30 degrees to the keyboard, going toward the right. The case of a bentside spinet is approximately triangular. The side on the right is usually bent concavely (hence the name of the instrument), curving away from the player toward the right rear corner. The longest side is adjacent to and parallel with the bass strings, going from the right rear corner to a location on the player's left. The front side of the spinet contains the keyboard. Typically, there are"
"Spinet desk A spinet desk is an antique desk with an exterior shape similar to a writing table, But slightly higher and is fitted with a single drawer under the whole length of the flat top surface. The spinet desk is so named because when closed it resembles a spinet, a musical instrument of the harpsichord family. This single drawer, however, is a dummy. It is a hinged panel which is meant to be folded in, at the same time as half of the hinged top surface is folded back on to the top of the other half, revealing an"
"Loesser notes that the spinet was not entirely new, as very small pianos had been manufactured at various times in the 19th century. After the 1930s, many people still continued to purchase spinets; a 1947 study showed that about 50 percent of all pianos sold during that production year were pianos strung vertically of 37 inches in height or less. The spinet enjoyed decades of popularity after the 1930s, but production was halted in the early 1990s. The spinet organ, a product of the mid-20th century, served the same function (domestic context, low cost) that was served by spinet harpsichords"
"half of the gaps are four millimetres instead of ten makes it possible to crowd more strings together into a smaller case. The disadvantage of the paired design is that it generally limits the spinet to a single choir of strings, at eight-foot pitch, although a double-strung spinet by John Player is known [Morris – references below]. In a full-size harpsichord, the registers that guide the jacks can be shifted slightly to one side, permitting the player to control whether or not that particular set of strings is sounded. This is impossible in a spinet, due to the alternating orientation"
"Spinto Spinto (from Italian, ""pushed"") is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano or tenor voice of a weight between lyric and dramatic that is capable of handling large musical climaxes in opera at moderate intervals. (Sometimes the terms ' or ' are used to denote this category of voice.) The spinto voice type is recognisable by its tonal ""slice"" or ""squillo"". This enables the singer to cut through the wall of sound produced by a full Romantic orchestra in a wide variety of roles, excluding only the most taxing ones written by the likes of Richard Wagner (such"
"of the jacks. For an exception to this point, see ""spinettone"", below. The angling of the strings also had consequences for tone quality: generally, it was not possible to make the plucking points as close to the nut as in a regular harpsichord. Thus spinets normally had a slightly different tone quality, with fewer higher harmonics. Spinets also had smaller soundboards than regular harpsichords, and normally had a weaker sound. For these reasons, the spinet was normally only a domestic instrument, purchased to save money and conserve domestic space. Harpsichord historian Frank Hubbard wrote in 1967, ""the earliest [bentside] spinet"
"The range of a clarinet can be divided into three distinct registers: All three registers have characteristically different sounds. The chalumeau register is rich and dark. The clarion register is brighter and sweet, like a trumpet (""clarion"") heard from afar. The altissimo register can be piercing and sometimes shrill. Sound is a wave that propagates through the air as a result of a local variation in air pressure. The production of sound by a clarinet follows these steps: The cycle repeats at a frequency relative to how long it takes a wave to travel to the first open hole and"
"1726, long after the two original spinets were built, but still in Cristofori's lifetime, the Bolognese builder Giuseppe Maria Goccini (1675-post 1733) built an instrument on similar principles, with the longest strings in the middle, alternating key lengths, and the ability to change stops by sliding the keyboard. However, Goccini's instrument was octagonal (a rectangle with truncated corners) rather than rectangular with appended arches. It is not known whether this instrument was inspired by Cristofori's or was an independent invention. Musical instrument scholar Stewart Pollens called the oval spinet ""a ""tour de force"" of mechanical design, fully the product of"
"as ""Brünhilde"", ""Isolde"", ""Tristan"" and ""Siegfried""), Giacomo Meyerbeer (""John of Leyden""), Verdi (""Otello""), Puccini (""Turandot"", ""Calaf"") and Richard Strauss (""Elektra""). Spinto Spinto (from Italian, ""pushed"") is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano or tenor voice of a weight between lyric and dramatic that is capable of handling large musical climaxes in opera at moderate intervals. (Sometimes the terms ' or ' are used to denote this category of voice.) The spinto voice type is recognisable by its tonal ""slice"" or ""squillo"". This enables the singer to cut through the wall of sound produced by a full Romantic orchestra"
"that one can barely see over – is often used in dance studios, where an accompanist can see the dancers. A short upright, one that rises less than a foot above the keyboard, is referred to as a spinet. Serious pianists typically regard spinets as inadequate because the soundboard is too short to produce a full sound with full overtones. National Music Museum No. 14434. Upright piano with player mechanism (Hammond Melo-Harp) by the Straube Co., Hammond, Indiana, manufactured 1916, serial no. 26494. AAA-c5 (7+ octaves). Three pedals: half blow, ""Melo-Harp"" (tabs with staples for a jarring, ""honky-tonk"" tone), dampers."
"the right hand to the upper manual and the left to the lower, rather than using both hands on a single manual. This seemed designed in part to encourage the pianist, who was accustomed to a single keyboard, to make use of both manuals. Stops on such instruments, relatively limited in number, were frequently named after orchestral instruments that they could, at best, only roughly approximate, and were often brightly colored (even more so than those of theatre organs). The spinet organ's loudspeakers, unlike the original Hammond models of the 1930s and 1940s, were housed within the main instrument (behind"
"Oval spinet The oval spinet is a type of harpsichord invented in the late 17th century by Bartolomeo Cristofori, the Italian instrument maker who later achieved fame for inventing the piano. The oval spinet was unusual for its shape, the arrangement of its strings, and for its mechanism for changing registration. The two oval spinets built by Cristofori survive today. One, built in 1690, is kept in the Museo degli strumenti musicali, part of the Galleria del Accademia in Florence. The other, from 1693, is in the Museum für Musikinstrumente of the University of Leipzig. In the oval spinet, the"
"narrower than a regular harpsichord. The novelty of Cristofori's spinettone was that unlike any other spinet; it deployed multiple choirs of strings. Its disposition was 1 × 8′, 1 × 4′, which means one set of strings in the normal octave and one set that sounded an octave higher. As with all multichoired harpsichords, this necessitated two sets of jacks, one for each choir. The player could choose which choir of strings would sound (8′, 4′, or both together) by sliding the keyboard forward and backward. The internal mechanism that accomplished this was the same as the one that Cristofori"
"String instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum—and others by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow. In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord, the musician presses a key that plucks the string. With bowed instruments, the player rubs the strings with a horsehair bow, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy, the musician operates"
"large, approximately 80 cm. The number of strings varies from three to eight, with diatonic fretting. The épinette is diatonic, producing a heptatonic major scale. The number of frets increased from fourteen to seventeen during the 19th century, giving it a range of two and a half octaves. An épinette player usually plays sitting down. The épinette is placed on a table (most often), or on the lap angling away from the player. Unlike other forms of dulcimer, the épinette gives some separation between the melody strings and the drones. Thus, those areas can be struck separately to establish rhythm."
"obtrusive cousin of the rolltop desk and the cylinder desk. Like them, and unlike the secretary desk or the fall front desk, it can be closed up without disturbing too much the paperwork and various documents and implements left on the main desktop surface. Spinet desk A spinet desk is an antique desk with an exterior shape similar to a writing table, But slightly higher and is fitted with a single drawer under the whole length of the flat top surface. The spinet desk is so named because when closed it resembles a spinet, a musical instrument of the harpsichord"
"which are sometimes set at the rear and sometimes placed inside the body"" The spinet-regals are usually quite compact, especially compared to their larger harpsichord cousins. The spinet is often of the smaller Italian style in a square case, as opposed to the perhaps more familiar Bentside shape popular in Britain. The organ is usually a small regal, with the bellows perpendicular to the keyboard, and pipes with tiny resonators. The instrument seems to have been very popular in Britain in the eighteenth century: both the larger harpsichord-organ combinations, and the organised-square pianos. Indeed, there are more than 20 surviving"
"Tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, tin flageolet, Irish whistle, Belfast Hornpipe, (or simply ) and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple, six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. A tin whistle player is called a tin whistler or simply a whistler. The tin whistle is closely associated with Celtic music. The tin whistle in its modern form is from a wider family of fipple flutes which have"
"sense of what the instrument was like when it was new, they commissioned harpsichord builders Tony Chinnery and Kerstin Schwarz to build a modern copy (pictured above), which the museum displays alongside the original. As Grant O'Brien (see links below) has observed, the oval spinet is, technically, not a spinet. ""Spinet"" designates a kind of harpsichord with strings at an angle to the keyboard. Since the oval spinet places its strings parallel to the keyboard, it is more properly called a virginal. The term ""oval spinet"" is used simply because it is the most convenient English rendering of Cristofori's own"
"Spinto soprano A spinto soprano (also lirico-spinto, spinto lyric soprano or ""pushed lyric"") is a type of operatic soprano voice that has the limpidity and easy high notes of a lyric soprano, yet can be ""pushed"" on to achieve dramatic climaxes without strain. This type of voice may possess a somewhat darker timbre, too, than the average lyric soprano. It generally uses ""squillo"" to ""slice"" through the sound of a full orchestra, rather than singing over the orchestra like a true dramatic soprano. Spinto sopranos are also expected to handle dynamic changes in the music that they are performing with"
"mean any member of the family of instruments. More often, though, it specifically denotes a grand-piano-shaped instrument with a roughly triangular case accommodating long bass strings at the left and short treble strings at the right. The characteristic profile of such a harpsichord is more elongated than a modern piano, with a sharper curve than the bentside. The virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular form of the harpsichord having only one string per note; the strings run parallel to the keyboard, which is on the long side of the case. A spinet is a harpsichord with the strings set"
"strings were placed parallel to the keyboard, the same arrangement as in a virginals. This can be seen in the following schematic false-color diagram of the 1690 oval spinet, showing the outline, keyboard, bridges, and string arrangement. The diagram and those that follow are colorizations of an original by Tony Chinnery. Unlike in a virginals, the longest strings in an oval spinet are placed in the middle. The strings are arranged so the pair of strings that sounded the lowest note (C) are precisely in the middle, the next lowest pair (C#) is just behind the lowest pair, the third"
"String (music) A string is the vibrating element that produces sound in string instruments such as the guitar, harp, piano (piano wire), and members of the violin family. Strings are lengths of a flexible material that a musical instrument holds under tension so that they can vibrate freely, but controllably. Strings may be ""plain"", consisting only of a single material, like steel, nylon, or gut, or wound, having a ""core"" of one material and an overwinding of another. This is to make the string vibrate at the desired pitch, while maintaining a low profile and sufficient flexibility for playability. The"
"be a strong incentive for the prince to have an instrument that was physically compact and able to fit easily in the orchestra, but endowed with multiple choirs of strings so as to be audible in performance. The spinettone was Cristofori's second effort to fulfill this requirement, the first one having been his (less successful) oval spinet. Besides being smaller than a regular harpsichord, the spinettone had another advantage, pointed out by Kottick: owing to the diagonal geometry of the strings, the player could be seated more or less facing the performers on stage, while the sound was projected in"
"the string). An electro-magnetic pickup turns the string vibration into an electric current. The unique playing feel of a clavinet comes from this abrupt impact of the pad striking its anvil point against the string. The end of each string farthest from the pick-ups passes through a weave of yarn. When the key is released, the yarn damps the vibration of the string. Each string is tuned by a machine-head positioned along the front of the harp. This harp mechanism is completely different from the other Hohner electric piano keyboard products, the Cembalet and Pianet, which use the principle of"
"Castanets Castanets, also known as palillos, are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Spanish, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a similar instrument called crotalum. The instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by a string. They are held in the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or a ripping or rattling sound consisting of a rapid series of clicks. They are traditionally made of hardwood (chestnut; Spanish: castaño), although fibreglass is becoming increasingly popular. In practice a player usually uses"