Hi, I hope all of you are doing well.
As the title mentioned, our discussion is about the action and key shapes on the piano and keyboard. For part 1, we are going to learn about key shapes, it is going to be a quick one.
For those who own a piano and keyboard, go and have a look at your instruments, spend a few seconds on the keys.
There are 3 types of key shapes, the piano style “lipped”, the synth style “diving-board” and organ style “waterfall”.
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Piano Styles or Lipped Keys
Often found on pianos and some recent days keyboards. As the name suggests, the edge of the key has an extra surface. There are still no explanation on the purpose of the “lip”, a few speculation are:
i. to provide extra surface for the players because a lot of playing normally hits on the edge of the keys.
ii. to strengthen the keys from braking from heavy use, look at the synth keys below.
iii. to lift the stuck keys that are caused by humidity and other possible factors.
iv. Purely for aesthetics.
Lipped keys
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Synth Style
Mostly found on organs, keyboard and synthesizers, it is originated from pipe organ. It allows organ players to play 2 keyboards with one hand.
In the 1990s, most of the electric organs adapted to this kind of keyboard, other home keyboards and synthesizers also did the same.
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Waterfall
Waterfall keys are very common in organs, the edges are smooth or squared off like the piano keys without the lipped. The smooth edges allow the player to perform the smear and palm wipe technique easily.
For regular piano and keyboard/synth players, we are mostly going to be playing on the classic lipped keys and synth keys, some synthesizers also come with waterfall keys, do your research before making a decision.
Thanks and always remember,
Learn to play, Play to create
Daniel