The Keyboard

In everyday German usage, Keyboard refers above all to the electronic keyboard instrument with built-in loudspeakers, a great many sounds and auto-accompaniment; in the wider sense the term covers all electronic keyboard instruments – synthesizers, organs, electric pianos, stage pianos, workstations and MIDI controllers. Keyboards allow a single player to supply melody, harmony and rhythm at once, and they are indispensable in pop, rock, soul, gospel, electronic music, film music and music production. The history of these instruments is closely tied to technical upheavals: valves, transistors, microprocessors, digital memory and finally software have each brought new sounds and new musical styles into being. Anyone who plays the keyboard is learning harmony, arranging and sound design at the same time – and will quickly find a place in bands, ensembles and the recording studio.

1Terms and types of instrument

Type	Characteristics	Used for
Home keyboard, arranger	61–76 keys, loudspeakers, hundreds of sounds, styles (auto-accompaniment), registrations	beginners, music at home, solo entertainment, dance and wedding music
Synthesizer	sound generation and shaping (oscillators, filters, envelopes, modulation), usually without loudspeakers	pop, electronic music, film music, sound design
Workstation	synthesizer with sequencer, sampler and effects	production, stage
Stage piano	88 weighted keys, high-quality piano, electric piano and organ sounds, no loudspeakers	stage, band, studio
Digital piano	88 weighted keys, loudspeakers, furniture-style cabinet, three pedals	piano lessons at home
Electric organ, clonewheel	drawbars, percussion, Leslie simulation, often two manuals	soul, gospel, rock, jazz, church
Electric piano (electromechanical)	Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Clavinet – sound produced by struck reeds or strings with pickups	soul, funk, jazz, pop
MIDI keyboard (controller)	no sound generation of its own; knobs, pads	controlling software on a computer
Keytar	keyboard worn on a strap and held like a guitar	stage

2History

Early electronic instruments

• 1897–1906 Thaddeus Cahill’s Telharmonium produces notes with generators and transmits them down telephone lines – a forerunner weighing several tonnes.
• 1928 Maurice Martenot presents the Ondes Martenot, a valve instrument with a keyboard and a ring for glissandi; Messiaen uses it in the Turangalîla-Symphonie.
• 1930 Friedrich Trautwein and Oskar Sala develop the Trautonium in Berlin (the sound of the birds in Hitchcock’s The Birds, 1963).
• 1935 Laurens Hammond presents the Hammond organ: tonewheels produce almost sinusoidal tones that are mixed additively using drawbars. The B-3 model appears in 1955.
• 1939/41 The Hammond Novachord, one of the first polyphonic synthesizers; Don Leslie develops the Leslie speaker with its rotating horn and rotor.

Electromechanical pianos and organs

• 1950s The Wurlitzer Electronic Piano (struck steel reeds); Harold Rhodes develops practice pianos for soldiers, marketed from 1965 as the Fender Rhodes.
• 1962–1964 Vox Continental and Farfisa (the transistor organs of beat music), Hohner Pianet and Clavinet (Stevie Wonder, “Superstition”, 1972).
• 1963 The Mellotron plays back tape recordings of real instruments (the Beatles, “Strawberry Fields Forever”; the Moody Blues; King Crimson).

The synthesizer

• 1964 Robert Moog presents the modular synthesizer with voltage-controlled modules (VCO, VCF, VCA). Wendy Carlos’s Switched-On Bach (1968) makes it world famous. On the West Coast, Don Buchla is working along parallel lines.
• 1970 The Minimoog: a compact synthesizer fit for the stage; the ARP 2600, ARP Odyssey and EMS VCS3 follow.
• 1970s Progressive rock (Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman), jazz rock (Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul), electronic music (Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Isao Tomita).
• 1978 The Sequential Circuits Prophet-5: the first fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer with memory slots.
• 1979 The Fairlight CMI and the Synclavier: digital samplers and workstations; the Casio VL-1 and, from 1980, the Casiotone bring keyboards into children’s bedrooms.
• 1983 The MIDI standard is introduced (Dave Smith, Ikutaro Kakehashi and others); the Yamaha DX7 with FM synthesis after John Chowning – more than 150,000 sold, and the electric piano and bass sound of the 1980s.
• 1983/84 The Yamaha Clavinova and the Kurzweil K250 establish digital pianos with sampled sounds.
• 1987/88 The Roland D-50; the Korg M1, the best-selling workstation of its day.
• 1990s Arranger keyboards with realistic styles (Technics, Yamaha PSR, the Korg i series); virtual analogue synthesizers (Clavia Nord Lead 1995, Access Virus).
• 2000s Software instruments (VST) replace much studio hardware; stage pianos (Nord Stage, Yamaha CP) and top-end arrangers (Yamaha Tyros, later Genos; the Korg Pa series).
• 2010s A renaissance of analogue synthesizers (Eurorack modules, reissues of the Minimoog and the Prophet); MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE, 2018) and MIDI 2.0 (2020).

3Sound generation

Method	Principle	Typical sounds and instruments
Additive synthesis	mixing individual sine tones	Hammond drawbars, Kawai K5
Subtractive synthesis	a harmonically rich waveform (sawtooth, square) is shaped by filters	Minimoog, Prophet-5, Juno; bass, lead and pad sounds
FM synthesis	frequency modulation of oscillators (“operators”)	DX7: electric piano, bells, basses
Sampling (PCM)	playback of recorded sounds, often in many velocity layers	arrangers, stage pianos, workstations
Wavetable	scanning through stored tables of waveforms	PPG Wave, Waldorf, Serum (software)
Granular synthesis	breaking sound into tiny particles and rearranging them	ambient, sound design
Physical modelling	calculating physical behaviour (string, hammer, pipe, tonewheel)	Roland V-Piano, Pianoteq, organ clones
Virtual analogue	digital emulation of analogue circuits	Nord Lead, Access Virus

The subtractive synthesizer

Component	Function
Oscillator (VCO/DCO)	produces the basic waveform: sine, triangle, sawtooth, square/pulse, noise
Filter (VCF)	removes frequencies; a low-pass filter with cutoff and resonance is the classic sound shaper
Amplifier (VCA)	controls the volume
Envelope (ADSR)	the shape over time: attack, decay, sustain, release – for volume and filter
LFO	a slow oscillator for vibrato, tremolo and filter movement
Modulation matrix	connects sources (envelope, LFO, velocity, wheel) to destinations
Effects	chorus, delay, reverb, distortion

The key specifications of an instrument are its polyphony (the number of voices that can sound at once; today usually 64 to 256), its multitimbrality (the number of sounds that can be used at once) and the quality of its samples.

4The organ and the Leslie

The Hammond organ has nine drawbars at different footages (16′, 5⅓′, 8′, 4′, 2⅔′, 2′, 1⅗′, 1⅓′, 1′), each of which can be pulled out in nine steps (0–8). Registrations are written as strings of digits: “888000000” is the classic jazz and gospel sound (Jimmy Smith), “888888888” the full organ. Percussion adds a short attack transient, and key click a characteristic click. The Leslie speaker, with its rotating treble horn and bass rotor, produces a spatial, shimmering sound that changes with speed (chorale slow, tremolo fast). Modern “clonewheels” (Nord, Hammond XK, Roland) simulate tonewheels and Leslie digitally.

5Key actions and controllers

Action	Feel	Suited to
Synth action (unweighted)	light, springy	keyboard, synthesizer, organ
Waterfall	keys without a front lip, light	organ (glissandi, smear techniques)
Semi-weighted	some resistance	all-round use
Hammer action (weighted)	piano-like, heavier in the bass	piano playing, stage piano, digital piano

Other means of expression: velocity (touch sensitivity), aftertouch (pressure applied after the key is struck, either per channel or per key), the pitch bend wheel, the modulation wheel (usually vibrato), ribbon controllers, an expression pedal, and sustain and sostenuto pedals. For keyboard lessons, 61 touch-sensitive keys are enough; classical piano playing calls for 88 weighted keys – see Piano.

6Electric pianos in detail

Instrument	Sound production	Sound	Famous recordings
Fender Rhodes (from 1965)	a hammer strikes a metal tine coupled to a tonebar; electromagnetic pickup	bell-like and warm, “barking” when struck hard; stereo tremolo on the Suitcase model	Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea (Return to Forever), Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are”, Stevie Wonder
Wurlitzer 200A (from 1972; predecessors from the 1950s)	struck steel reeds, electrostatic pickup	raw and nasal, slightly distorted when struck hard	Ray Charles’s “What’d I Say”, Supertramp, the Beatles
Hohner Clavinet (from 1964)	rubber hammers press the strings against an anvil; pickups	percussive, funky, guitar-like	Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”, Led Zeppelin
Hohner Pianet	reeds are plucked by sticky pads	soft, short	The Zombies’ “She’s Not There”
Yamaha CP-70/80 (from 1976)	an electric grand with real strings and pickups	bright, glittering piano sound	Genesis, Keane
Yamaha DX7 “E. Piano 1” (1983)	FM synthesis	glassy, clear	countless pop ballads of the 1980s

Today these instruments are sampled or modelled digitally; well-preserved originals are sought-after collectors’ and studio instruments.

7Important instruments at a glance

Year	Instrument	Significance
1928	Ondes Martenot	an early electronic concert instrument
1935 / 1955	Hammond / Hammond B-3	the organ sound of jazz, gospel, soul and rock
1963	Mellotron	a tape sampler before the digital age
1964	Moog Modular	the beginning of the commercial synthesizer
1970	Minimoog Model D	the first compact stage synthesizer
1976/77	Yamaha CS-80	the sound of Vangelis (Blade Runner)
1978	Prophet-5	the first fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer
1981	Roland Jupiter-8	a benchmark for polyphonic analogue synthesis
1980/81	Roland TR-808 / TB-303	drum machine and bass machine, later the foundation of acid house and hip-hop
1983	Yamaha DX7	FM synthesis, the breakthrough of the digital synthesizer
1984	Roland Juno-106	affordable analogue polysynth, the pads of the 1980s
1988	Korg M1	the best-selling workstation of its day
1995	Clavia Nord Lead	virtual analogue synthesis
2001	Nord Electro / Stage	the stage standard for piano, electric piano and organ
2017	Yamaha Genos	the flagship of the arranger class

8Auto-accompaniment and arrangers

The left hand plays a chord in the accompaniment section of the keyboard, and the instrument supplies drums, bass and backing parts in the chosen style. Good arrangers contain hundreds of styles from every genre, with several variations and with phrases played by studio musicians (“audio styles”).

Control	Function
Intro, ending	opening and closing sections, often in several lengths
Main/variation A–D	basic patterns of increasing intensity
Fill-in	a transition to the next variation
Break	a short pause in the accompaniment
Sync start / sync stop	start with the first chord, stop when the keys are released
Fingered / single finger / AI fingering	chord recognition from full chords, from simplified fingerings, or “intelligently” (including inversions and slash chords)
Split, layer (right 1–3, left)	divide the keyboard, or stack several sounds
Registration memory / performances	stored overall settings for a particular piece
Harmony / vocal harmony	automatic second parts and vocal harmonies
Multi pads, sequencer, audio player	additional phrases, recording, playback

Auto-accompaniment is a great motivator for beginners and a professional tool for solo entertainers. It demands a secure sense of time, because it carries on regardless. In more advanced lessons, players increasingly accompany freely – without the automatic backing, using patterns and voicings of their own.

9MIDI and the computer

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) does not transmit sound but control data: which key is played, when, how hard and for how long, together with knob movements, program changes and tempo. A MIDI cable (5-pin DIN) or USB carries up to 16 channels.

MIDI message	Meaning
Note on / note off	key pressed or released, with a note number (0–127; C4 = 60) and a velocity (0–127)
Control change (CC)	controllers, for example CC 1 modulation, CC 7 volume, CC 64 sustain pedal
Program change	change of sound
Pitch bend, aftertouch	change of pitch, pressure
Clock, start/stop	synchronisation of tempo

General MIDI (1991) laid down a standard assignment of 128 sounds and a drum mapping. MIDI 2.0 (2020) brings higher resolution and two-way communication; MPE makes polyphonic expression possible note by note (Roli Seaboard, Expressive E Osmose).

With a DAW (digital audio workstation, such as Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Cubase, FL Studio or Studio One) the keyboard becomes the centre of a home studio: recording, editing and arranging MIDI and audio, software instruments (pianos, orchestras, synthesizers) and mixing. For live performance, laptops are used with software such as MainStage, Ableton Live or Gig Performer.

10Technique and harmony at the keyboard

Technique

The foundations are a relaxed, curved hand position, piano-like fingering and a calm hand on the controllers. Specific to the keyboard are the deliberate use of pitch bend (for guitar or lead sounds, for example), the modulation wheel and aftertouch, glissandi and smears on the organ, fast changes of sound and registration, playing on two manuals, and operating filter and envelope controls while playing.

Chords and voicings

Topic	Content and examples
Triads and inversions	C (c–e–g), C/E, C/G – short movements between chords through good voice leading
Seventh chords	Cmaj7, C7, Cm7, Cm7♭5, C°7
Extensions	9, 11, 13 and alterations (♭9, ♯11, ♭13)
Voicings	shell voicings (root, third, seventh), drop 2, rootless voicings (jazz), quartal voicings (McCoy Tyner), clusters (pop pads)
Chord progressions	I–V–vi–IV (pop), ii–V–I (jazz), the twelve-bar blues, gospel turnarounds (passing chords)
Accompaniment patterns	pop quavers, arpeggios, offbeat stabs (ska, the reggae “skank”), funk clavinet patterns, stride, comping
Left hand	roots, octaves, walking bass, synth bass
Playing from a lead sheet	melody in the right hand, chord symbols realised in the left

The role in a band

Keyboard players have to find their place in the arrangement: pianos and pads fill the midrange, where they can collide with guitar and voice. Voicings are therefore often thinned out, spread across registers and interlocked rhythmically. Organ pads, electric piano comping, string pads, synth leads and horn sections are typical tasks – often changing quickly within a single song.

11Styles and sounds

Style	Typical instruments and sounds	Leading keyboard players
Soul, gospel, R&B	Hammond B-3 with Leslie, piano, Rhodes	Booker T. Jones, Billy Preston, Cory Henry
Jazz organ	Hammond, bass in the left hand or on the pedals	Jimmy Smith, Larry Young, Joey DeFrancesco, Rhoda Scott
Jazz rock, fusion	Rhodes, Minimoog, Oberheim	Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, Jan Hammer
Rock, progressive rock	Hammond, Mellotron, Moog	Jon Lord, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Tony Banks, Jordan Rudess
Funk	Clavinet, synth bass, Rhodes	Stevie Wonder, Bernie Worrell
Electronic music, synth-pop	analogue and digital synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines	Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Depeche Mode, Giorgio Moroder
Pop of the 1980s	DX7 electric piano, Juno pads, Oberheim brass	–
EDM, hip-hop	software synthesizers, samplers, controllers	producers
Film music	synthesizers, hybrid orchestras	Vangelis (Blade Runner), Hans Zimmer, Wendy Carlos
Solo entertainment, dance music	arranger keyboard	–

12The keyboard around the world

• The Middle East, Turkey and North Africa: arranger keyboards with quarter-tone functions (“oriental scale”, freely adjustable microintervals for maqām scales) have replaced whole ensembles in wedding and entertainment music. In Turkey the instrument is simply called the org; in Lebanon, Egypt and Syria, virtuoso keyboard players are stars of celebration music.
• India: keyboards and synthesizers have shaped Bollywood film music since the 1980s (A. R. Rahman began as a keyboard player); the harmonium, a related keyboard instrument with free reeds, remains central to qawwali and bhajan.
• West Africa: keyboards and synthesizers in highlife, Afrobeats and gospel; synthesizer pioneers such as William Onyeabor (Nigeria).
• The Caribbean and Latin America: keyboards in cumbia, reggaeton and soca; in reggae and dub, the organ “bubble” (an offbeat pattern).
• The United States: the Hammond organ is a fixture of African American church music – the gospel organ sound shaped soul, R&B and jazz.
• Japan: home to the major manufacturers (Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Casio, Kawai) and to the Yamaha music schools; city pop and video game music (Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu) shaped keyboard sounds worldwide.
• Germany: a centre of electronic music (Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, the Berlin School) and of manufacturers such as Waldorf, PPG and Doepfer (Eurorack).

13Training and teaching material

The keyboard has been a subject in its own right at German music schools since the 1980s; professional training takes place on degree courses in popular music and jazz (piano/keyboards), on production and sound design courses, and at academies. Graded examination systems such as Rockschool (Keys) and the Yamaha music school programmes are used internationally.

Area	Teaching material (a selection)
Starting the keyboard	various keyboard methods from German publishers (Bosworth, Voggenreiter, Schott and others); the Hal Leonard Keyboard Method
Pop and accompaniment	pop piano methods, books on song accompaniment, textbooks on arranging
Jazz and harmony	Mark Levine: The Jazz Piano Book (1989); Frank Mantooth: Voicings for Jazz Keyboard
Synthesizers and sound design	Gordon Reid: Synth Secrets (series of articles, Sound on Sound); Fred Welsh: Welsh’s Synthesizer Cookbook
Organ	methods on Hammond registration and gospel organ

14Buying an instrument

Category	Guide price (new)	What to look for
Beginner’s keyboard	about €150–400	61 full-size touch-sensitive keys, a sustain pedal socket, USB MIDI, a power supply
Mid-range arranger	about €500–1,500	better sounds and styles, registrations, a recording function
Professional arranger, workstation	about €2,000–6,000	stage and production work
Synthesizer	about €300–5,000	ease of operation, polyphony, analogue or digital
Stage piano	about €600–4,000	the action, and the piano, electric piano and organ sounds
MIDI controller	about €60–600	number of keys, the action, knobs, software integration

15Care and ergonomics

• Use a dust cover; clean the keys with a slightly damp cloth and no solvents.
• Do not store the instrument in direct sunlight or in damp rooms, and keep drinks away from it.
• Use padded bags or flight cases for transport.
• Set the seat height so that the forearms run roughly horizontally to the keyboard, with the instrument centred in front of the body.
• Keep headphone levels moderate to protect your hearing.

16Learning the keyboard

Stage	Content
Starting out	finding your way around the keys, the five-finger position, melody in the right hand, simple chords in the left (single finger), first styles, reading notation in the treble clef
Years 1–2	full major and minor chords, inversions, the bass clef, playing with both hands, choosing sounds and registrations
Years 3–4	free accompaniment patterns without the automatic backing, seventh chords, lead sheets, playing in a band, pitch bend and modulation
Advanced	voicings, improvisation, stylistic study (pop, soul, funk, jazz), sound design, DAW work and recording, arranging

17The keyboard at Cuxhaven Music School

Keyboard lessons with us combine the pleasure of playing with chord theory, accompaniment, sound design and arranging. You can move to the piano at any time; in our bands, keyboard players play alongside electric guitar, electric bass and drums. A related instrument: the accordion.

18Frequently asked questions

Keyboard or piano?

For classical piano playing, a digital piano with a weighted action is the right choice. For pop, accompaniment, playing in a band and electronic music, the keyboard is ideal. Many people start on the keyboard and change later – or play both.

Is auto-accompaniment cheating?

No – it is a tool that solo entertainers use professionally. It does not, however, replace learning to build your own accompaniment patterns.

What is MIDI?

A protocol that transmits performance information between instruments and computers – not sound.

What is the difference between a keyboard and a synthesizer?

A keyboard usually has fixed, sampled sounds and auto-accompaniment; a synthesizer creates sounds that you shape yourself.

How many keys do I need?

Sixty-one for keyboard lessons, 88 for piano literature, and often only 25 to 49 for studio work at the computer.

Do I need a sustain pedal?

Yes, it is worth having from the start. A pedal shaped like a piano pedal is more pleasant to use than a small footswitch.

19Glossary

ADSR

The envelope: attack, decay, sustain, release.

Aftertouch

Pressure applied to a key after it has been struck, used as a control signal.

Arranger

A keyboard with auto-accompaniment.

Clonewheel

A digital emulation of a Hammond organ.

DAW

Software for recording and producing music.

Filter (cutoff, resonance)

The sound shaper in a synthesizer.

Layer / split

Stacking sounds / dividing the keyboard.

Leslie

A speaker with a rotating horn, used with organs.

LFO

A slow oscillator used for modulation.

MIDI

The standard for transmitting performance data.

Multitimbral

Able to use several sounds at the same time.

Pitch bend

A wheel for altering pitch.

Polyphony

The number of voices that can sound at once.

Style

An accompaniment pattern in a particular musical idiom.

Velocity

How hard a key is struck (0–127).

Voicing

The position and spacing of the notes of a chord.

Drawbar

A slider controlling one footage on the Hammond organ.

20Sources and further reading

• Mark Vail: The Synthesizer. A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Programming, Playing, and Recording. Oxford University Press 2014.
• Mark Vail: Vintage Synthesizers. Miller Freeman, 2nd edn 2000.
• Trevor Pinch, Frank Trocco: Analog Days. The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer. Harvard University Press 2002.
• Thom Holmes: Electronic and Experimental Music. Routledge, 6th edn 2020.
• Gordon Reid: Synth Secrets. Series of articles in Sound on Sound, 1999–2004.
• Mark Levine: The Jazz Piano Book. Sher Music 1989.
• MIDI Association: MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification; MIDI 2.0 Specification.
• Article “Elektronische Musikinstrumente” in: MGG; “Synthesizer” and “Electronic instruments” in: Grove Music Online.

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Last updated: September 2026 · Musikpedia editorial team, Cuxhaven Music School