This lesson will provide you with some insights on the capabilities of the keyboard.<\/p>\n
Dear keyboardist, one of the best things that can happen to you is for you to have an understanding of what your instrument can do.<\/p>\n
The keyboard is a multi-dimensional instrument that can serve many purposes: (which is not limited to) melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic purposes.<\/p>\n
Sadly, so many keyboardists don’t have an understanding of the capabilities of their instrument and that’s why I decided to write this lesson to exposed a few of the capabilities of the keyboard.<\/p>\n
Although there are more things the keyboard can do, I’ll be showing you the top four capabilities of the keyboard.<\/p>\n
The range of an instrument or voice is defined as the interval between the lowest possible and highest possible note that can be played or sung.<\/p>\n
The keyboard has an 88-key range (52 white keys and 36 black keys) consisting of all the tones in the chromatic scale and encompassing 7 octaves from A0 to C8.<\/p>\n
“Check Out The Range Of Other Instruments…”<\/em><\/p>\n The Trumpet (F#3 to D6)<\/p>\n Guitar (E3 to E6)<\/p>\n Violin (G3 to A7)<\/p>\n Bass Guitar (E1 to Eb5)<\/p>\n Can you compare any of these instruments with the keyboard in range? No!<\/p>\n Attention:<\/strong> Although keyboards can be physically limited in range, they have octave shift buttons that can electronically adjust their range. So, you can play lower and higher octaves in a 4 octave keyboard using the shift button.<\/p>\n The keyboard can play any melody or melodic line; be it low or high, grave or acute and this is because of its range.<\/p>\n There are instruments that can only play low-pitched melodies, there are other instruments that can play high-pitched melody. Most of these instruments come with name distinctions like contrabass, bass, alto, tenor, soprano, etc.<\/p>\n A saxophonist may not be able to play low-pitched melodies without a bass saxophone and this is because the range of pitches required are beyond the soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone instruments.<\/p>\n But the range of the keyboard spans from A0 to C8 and can play any melody or melodic line from bass lines to runs, licks, etc.<\/p>\n An instrument is said to be polyphonic when several layers of tones can be played simultaneously. The keyboard is polyphonic because<\/p>\n Depending on the keyboard, you can have a polyphonic capability of 16 to 256 notes:<\/p>\n 16 notes polyphony<\/p>\n 32 notes polyphony<\/p>\n 64 notes polyphony<\/p>\n 128 notes polyphony<\/p>\n 256 notes polyphony<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In a keyboard with 128 notes polyphony, up to 128 notes can be played at the same time and that’s way more than the 88 keys on the entire keyboard layout.<\/p>\n What this means is that it’s possible to play all the 88 keys on the keyboard at the same time on a keyboard with 128 notes polyphony. Even if you do, that’s just 88 out of the 128 notes that can be played simultaneously.<\/p>\n Due to the polyphony of the keyboard, it’s possible to play any chord type or quality; the number of notes not withstanding.<\/p>\n The movement of the fingers and hands can create interesting rhythmic patterns on the piano that can be used in solo and band situations<\/p>\n The keyboard can be used to create rhythmic bass lines ranging from the walking bass used in Jazz and Gospel music; to the the alberti bass used in classical music; to the sophisticated stride piano style where the left hand alternates between notes and chords.<\/p>\n There are lots of rhythmic accompaniments that can be executed on the keyboard.<\/p>\n The montunos<\/em> that are used in genres like Salsa; the “ragged” rhythm of Ragtime; the syncopated and irregular comping patterns<\/strong> of bebop and post-bop music; and the syncopated vamp<\/em> of reggae music can be played on the keyboard.<\/p>\n Keyboard instruments have the capabilities to execute these rhythmic feats and so many virtuoso keyboardists have explored the rhythmic capabilities of the keyboard.<\/p>\n The keyboard is capable of generating the intonation (aka – “timbre”) of several instruments.<\/p>\n You’ll also find hundreds to thousands of sounds, tones, voices, and effects that are ideal for performance and recording situations.<\/p>\n These voices are arranged into categories which include piano and keyboard, e-piano, organs, guitar, bass, strings, flute, brass, pads, synths, drums, percussion, effects. etc.<\/p>\n Just one keyboard is capable of producing the sound of a wide variety of instruments and with technological advancement, it’s possible to play as a “one-man-band” using a keyboard.<\/p>\n There’s obviously more to the keyboard than meets the eye and it’s important for every keyboardist to know that much is given to him\/her (melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, and synthesizing capabilities) and much more is expected.<\/p>\n Attention:<\/strong> We are social. Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n To take you a step further, we’ll be talking about the roles of a keyboardist in a band situation in a subsequent lesson.<\/p>\n See you then!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There’s absolutely more to the keyboard than 88 keys. This lesson will open your eyes to the capabilities of the keyboard. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":22344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[416,350,9,341],"tags":[1014,2758,2759,2760,2757],"class_list":["post-19235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-experienced-players","category-music-etc","category-piano","category-motivation-self-improvement","tag-keyboard","tag-keyboard-instruments","tag-keyboard-player","tag-keyboard-players","tag-keyboards","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"yoast_head":"\n“The Keyboard Can Play Any Melody”<\/em><\/h3>\n
The Harmonic<\/em> Capabilities Of The Keyboard<\/h2>\n
The Rhythmic<\/em> Capabilities Of The Keyboard<\/h2>\n
Bass Lines<\/h3>\n
Rhythmic Accompaniment<\/h3>\n
The Synthesizing<\/em> Capabilities Of The Keyboard<\/h2>\n
Final Words<\/h2>\n