Name:
Group: wind reed
Homeland: Tula
Origin: Harmonica variety with full chromatic scale on the right keyboard, bass and ready-made chord accompaniment on the left; named after the Old Russian singer-storyteller Boyan.
Timbre: deep, thick, "breathing" sound, corresponding to the breadth of the Russian character.
Sound production: The sound in the accordion arises due to the vibration of the reeds - metal plates - under the influence air jet from furs.
Device: button accordion consists of three parts - right half-body, left half-body, fur.
Notable performers: V. A. Romanko, Victor Fedorovich Gridin, Fedor Valentinovich Chistyakov, "Bayan-MIX"
In fact, the button accordion is a kind of accordion.
Each has its own flaw
Your habits, hobbies.
And there are directions in music
But there can be no doubt
What is the nicest to me of all the accordion.
You say: “But how is that? He is old
And you will be wrong.
Smile at your mistake
When he comes back to our everyday life.
Even if its sound is not so loud,
Like electric guitars
Rumble from the speakers
But he carries something in himself ...
And this "something" even the most,
Rock band fanatics stubborn
It happens to the soul.
And believe me, the years will fly by
Windy fashions will change
And only the button accordion will not be silent.
He will pass all the lights and waters.
And together with the "Russian Round Dance"
Bayan on Mars will sound!
Puzzles:
Stretch the fur, Seryozhka,
So that the legs start to dance.
So that Petya and Tolyan
Praised your….
He has a pleated shirt
He loves to dance squatting,
He dances and sings -
If it falls into the hands.
Forty buttons on it
With mother-of-pearl fire.
A box on my knees jumps
Now she sings, then she cries out loud.
Anton pressed the keys,
Ivan pressed the buttons,
And the accordion sounded
And strummed (button accordion)
The button accordion is a musical instrument, a kind of harmonica with a full chromatic scale on the right keyboard, bass and ready-made chord or ready-selectable accompaniment on the left. Named after the old Russian singer-storyteller Boyan.
The modern button accordion is equipped with a five- or three-row right keyboard, sometimes with register-switches (depending on the number of simultaneously sounding voices when one button is pressed in the right keyboard mechanism) and a ready-to-select five- or six-row left keyboard and has excellent artistic performance capabilities, allows play not only the simplest melodies, but also the masterpieces of world classics. There are two-, three-, four- and five-part button accordions.
The button accordion consists of three parts - the right half-body, the left half-body, and the fur chamber. The sound in the accordion arises due to the vibrations of the reeds in the openings of the voice bar under the influence of an air stream from the fur chamber or into the fur chamber.
Conversations with BAYAN.
Bayan can tell a lot about himself. Look at Bayan - what a handsome man!
It's amazing what an Accordion looks like.
Still, - the instrument hummed with a rich, thick bass. - The accordion is my blood brother. Confusing us who does not look closely. Indeed, the Accordion has
on the side of the key, like a Grand piano, on the other, there are buttons. But Bayan has buttons on both the right and left. That seems to be the whole difference.
When were you born?
Few of the musical instruments to such a question
ready to answer exactly. And I know for sure that it appeared in 1907.
Yes, you are still quite a child! other musical instruments, such as the Harp, are thousands of years old. - And such successes! World renown! Must have ability
extraordinary!
The instrument was moved, sobbed in the bass:
You respect me, and I will open my breath before you. - And he opened it. ... ... The soul of this tool is a special pneumatic device, in other words, a device that acts by the force of compressed air. The air is pumped by bellows, it vibrates elastic metal plates-tongues.
The instrument pronounces something gloomy with its bass - only reeds in motion.
It will fill with a gentle nightingale trill - others stir. The instrument is having fun - the tongues are dancing merrily, it is sad - the tongues are trembling in thought.
- So this is your secret!
- Let's clarify: not mine, but all pneumatic reed instruments, and the Accordion too.
- And you, personally, why are you so special?
- Without false modesty, I will say - improved me. So advanced it is perhaps the most advanced pneumatic reed ever.
Here the instrument told its story.
He comes, it turns out, from the ancient Russian city of Tula, famous for all sorts of crafts. He came from a large family of Accordions. And the master Petr Sterligov created it in accordion affairs. Yes, not on a whim, but by order of the artist Orlandsky-Titarenko. This artist played Russian folk songs unusually well on the Accordions. But he had a dream to play even more skillfully. This is how our hero was born. And they gave him a name, not just any newborn, but a proud, epic (By the way, the name of this epic singer is found in Pushkin's poem Ruslan and Lyudmila.) Yes, the instrument turned out to be so clever, sonorous that it went for a walk all over Russia. And then they recognized him abroad, and everywhere he conquered hearts with a Russian melody. As time went on - the instrument matured, and he wanted to try everything in the world.
- I feel a heroic strength in myself, - said the instrument, ending the story. - I can play any music, the most difficult. I compete with the famous Royal and the mighty Organ.
I almost forgot. ... ...
The name of this instrument is BAYAN.
(I draw your attention: the name of the epic singer is sometimes written with "o" - Boyan, the name of the instrument is always written with "a" - Bayan.)
Leonid Gurulev
On the right keyboard, as we already know, the melody of a piece of music is played; The left keyboard is used to play the accompaniment (accompaniment) of this melody. However, there are cases where the melody runs in a bass voice and is played on the left accordion keyboard.
To record bass sounds, there is a bass clef, or "fa" clef, which is depicted special sign(see fig.). He points out that the note F of a minor octave is recorded on the fourth ruler of the staff:
Knowing the location of this sound on the stave, it is not difficult to determine the rest of the bass sounds;
On the left side of the accordion are the buttons arranged in slightly oblique transverse rows. This whole part is called the bass keyboard.
The bass keyboard uses four fingers when playing the accordion. They are designated as follows:
2 - index finger (second finger)
3 - middle (third finger)
4 - ring (fourth finger)
5 - little finger (fifth finger)
1st finger does not participate in the game. It is used to push the air valve.
The first two longitudinal rows from the fur contain the main bass sounds. On these rows, a melodic line is played in the left keyboard.
The second row, counting from the fur, is called the main... Here is a button with a small notch that corresponds to the C note. Press this button with your 3rd finger:
Above the bass sound button is the salt button. Press it with your 2nd finger:
Below the C bass sound button is the F note button. Press it with your 4th finger.
Bass sounds are usually recorded within one octave.
Sometimes, for the sake of clarity, the images of the melodic line are recorded in different octaves. In reality, they sound within the above octave.
A characteristic of an accordion is the presence of buttons, when pressed, not one sound, but several sounds. This simultaneous sounding of several sounds is called chord... In the right keyboard, to get a chord, you need to press several specific keys at the same time, but in the left keyboard, chords are already given ready-made. By pressing one button, we will hear a chord consisting of several sounds.
Chords are written in the following notes:
From these sounds, ready-made chords are formed. All notes included in the chord are written on the stave one above the other:
Chords are major, minor, dominant seventh chords and reduced(we will look at the reduced chords later).
Chords are built from the main bass along oblique transverse rows and have the same names. Below is the bass ( before) and the chord from this bass ( C major):
For easier identification of chords, use the conventions.
Major chords in the third row of the keyboard are indicated by the letter " B".
Minor chords (fourth row of the keyboard) are indicated by the letter " M".
Dominant seventh chords (fifth row) are indicated by the number " 7
".
Below is the chord diagram for the left keyboard. For now, we will consider chords only from the basic sounds ( do, re, mi, fa, salt, la, si). We will study the first (auxiliary) row in the next lessons, so for now I have "painted" this row gray.
If after the bass there is a designation (B, M or 7), then this chord (button) is taken from the same bass located in the main row.
When repeating the same chords, the legend may not be written out:
If the bass and chord are written one on top of the other, then they are played simultaneously, that is, both buttons must be pressed together.
When learning the exercises, try to play evenly, counting out loud. For now, observe the fingering in the following order: the main row is the third finger, the row of major chords is the second. Watch for the movement of the fur, for the sound.
Right-hand mechanics of the Jupiter 64/106 button accordion in the process of assembly.
So, the price of the same button accordion, the photo of which flaunts on my profile picture, is 350,000 rubles. Do not look for Swarovski inlay on the case, it is not here. This is an ordinary serial button accordion. The fact is that the manufacture of button accordions is a long, laborious, almost non-automated process.
The creation time of this musical instrument is longer than the time of bearing a human baby. A long eleven months pass from the start of work until the birth of the finished button accordion. Eight different masters are involved in this difficult process. 80% of all production is done by hand.
Left Mechanic Finish Elective Accordion, Experimental. The process of developing a new tool model. Designer - Lavrov Viktor Petrovich.
If you decide to start making harmonics, you should not google the technical schools and universities that produce the corresponding masters. The creators of these musical instruments will have to be taught from scratch. The training process for one professional takes at least 2-3 years.
For the birth of one button accordion you will need:
Master in Nodal Mechanics
Furrier
Hull Craftsman
Resonator Master
Left hand mechanic assembler
Right Mechanic Assembler
Tuner
There is not a single person who would combine all these specialties. It is very very rare to come across a master who is fluent in two of these eight wisdom, but no more.
The salary of the capital's harmonica maker is about 35,000 rubles. Taking into account the cost of renting premises, it is better to organize production somewhere in the province, and maybe outside our vast homeland.
Manufacturing of resonators: installation and gluing of partitions.
Master - Mikhail Ivanovich Kudar
Perhaps the largest harmonica factory is located in Pyongyang. It employs 1,100 people, of which only 80 are managers, and the rest are workers. Mostly accordions are made there. This factory and the Moscow company "Jupiter" are linked by close friendly and partner relations.
Levers assembled with valves of the right mechanics of the accordion Jupiter
Pasting the mesh of the right mechanics.
Master Rybin Mikhail Nikolaevich
Pasting the mesh of the right mechanics
Making the right accordion mechanics Jupiter 4-voice.
Master - Platonov Konstantin Mikhailovich.
This is how the production of a musical instrument takes place. The instrument turns out to be very, very nice.
The last step in creating a harmonic is tuning.
The last step is setup
By the way, the accordion is the button accordion's younger brother, and not vice versa, as many think.
Accordion. Photo taken by Alexey Bondarenko
In general, there are a great many harmonics. For the meticulous, here is the harmonic classification scheme
And here is Alexei himself in the process of creating his new avatar
Alexey Bondarenko is photographed on a new avatar
In the factory, there are even inscriptions on the dust about music
In general, the button accordion is by no means something irrelevant, as they like to say on the Internet, but a popular, interesting and very serious musical instrument. Here.
Button accordion, accordion, harmonica ... For inexperienced people, far from music, there is no difference between these instruments: it’s an accordion, and this is an accordion. Such people can calmly come to a musical instrument store and, pointing to the accordion, ask: "Give me this accordion!" They confuse accordionists with accordionists, and those and others with accordionists ...
And yet there are differences, and quite significant ones. But in order to understand how the button accordion differs from the accordion, you need to say a few words about their common progenitor.
All accordions, like button accordions and accordions, are reed musical instruments. Since they have a keyboard, they are simultaneously considered keyboards, more precisely, pneumatic keys. But still, the main feature that distinguishes any accordion is the tongue, a flexible steel plate, when vibrated, a sound is produced. The tongue is driven differently in different instruments. For example, the jew's harp is played by pressing it to the teeth and simultaneously hitting the tongue with your fingers, and the mouth serves as a resonator here. Opening it narrower or wider, you can get sounds of different timbre.
In the accordion, the tongues vibrate in the flow of air, which the performer forces, squeezing and stretching the fur. They are fixed on metal slats with slots through which air passes, and come in different sizes: some are more massive and larger - these reeds give lower sounds, others are lighter and smaller - here the sounds are higher.
Each strip has two tabs on both sides, separated by a leather flap in such a way that when the fur is compressed, only one of them vibrates, and when the fur is stretched, the other. Accordingly, there are also two slots that overlap the tabs.
To amplify the sound, air chambers are used - resonators, to which the strips are attached. These resonators are made of wood (usually spruce). Together with the strips, they are assembled into blocks that are installed inside the accordion body on the deck - a special partition with holes. The resonator blocks are located on the side of the deck, which is closer to the fur, and on the side of the body there are valves for air supply. These valves are connected to buttons and covered with a grill.
When buttons are pressed, the valves open, air flows through the deck, and the reeds vibrate to create a sound.
Sometimes the size of the reeds on the sound bars, which means their musical tone, can be different. Therefore, all accordions are divided into two large groups: in one, the reeds at the "entry" and "exit" are the same, the most famous accordion of this type is lame. In the second group, these reeds are different, which gives sounds of different heights. This type includes such accordions as a talianka (distorted "Italian").
The left keyboard buttons are located on the case itself. It is intended for accompaniment. Pressing one button on it opens several resonator chambers at once, and a whole chord sounds.
The melody itself is played on the right keyboard. Here, the buttons are on the neck attached to the body and have metal levers that extend to the valves. They are located in one or more rows (hence the names "one-row", "two-row", etc.). Pressing one button opens only one resonator - and therefore a single pure musical tone sounds.
In 1783, the Czech master Kirchnik, who lived in St. Petersburg, discovered a new (as it seemed to him) way to extract sounds - with the help of metal tongues. In 1821, the Berlin master Bushmann created a harmonica on the basis of this method, and in next year tried to attach fur to it. In 1829, Viennese inventor Kirill Demian invented an instrument that he called the accordion, because its left-hand keyboard was the same as that of modern harmonics - chordal: pressing one button produced a whole chord. However, right keyboard this tool did not have it yet.
Around the 1830s, the novelty penetrated into Russia, acquired a simple name there - an accordion - and gained great popularity.
But the musicians immediately noticed that simple accordions also have disadvantages. For example, they have a limited sound range (few octaves). They usually have only one key and are either major or minor.
Therefore, the question soon arose about the invention of such a musical instrument that would have the merits of an accordion, but at the same time would have an extensive scale and an evenly tempered musical scale (i.e., such a scale where each octave is divided into 12 mathematically equal semitones). This tuning has been used in academic music for several centuries. Its other name is "full chromatic scale".
Throughout the 19th century, various firms and craftsmen in Europe and Russia worked to improve the accordion. The right keyboard was added to the left keyboard, various prototypes of the button accordion and accordion with a piano keyboard appeared - among them the "piano accordion" from the city of Yelets and the chromatic harmonica of Nikolai Ivanovich Beloborodov, created in 1870.
In 1907, the inventor Peter Yegorovich Sterligov made the first three-row button accordion, and in 1913, a five-row one.
Around the same time, chromatic harmonics with a piano keyboard, that is, modern accordions, became widespread in Europe. V Soviet Union they hit around the 1930s.
First, as already mentioned in the article, both the button accordion and the accordion are chromatic harmonics, that is, they have an evenly tempered scale (12 semitones per octave) and a wide range of octaves.
Secondly, the button accordion and accordion structure is similar, in particular the left keyboard. It is intended for bass notes (the first two rows of buttons) and for chords (the other four rows are major, minor, seventh, diminished seventh).
Coming to a musical instrument store to buy a suitable harmonica, you need to know that there is one more important nuance.
Both button accordions and accordions are divided into three types: ready-made, elective, and ready-elective. For the ready-made ones, the left keyboard is configured as described above. For the elective, it, just like the right one, is needed in order to extract not chords, but individual notes. In the third type - ready-to-use - you can switch between the two modes. There is a special register key on the left keyboard for switching. In the selective mode, the rows with chords turn into a kind of right keyboard of a four-row button accordion, only mirrored.
Professional musicians love pre-selected accordions and button accordions most of all, since the possibilities of these instruments are very wide. They are a little more difficult to master than ready-made ones, but you can play almost anything on them - even Bach fugues.
In addition to different shapes body (the button accordion is more rectangular, the accordion is more rounded), and the shape of the neck (the accordion has a longer neck), the main difference between the button accordion and the accordion is the keyboard for the right hand.
On the right accordion keyboard, there are three to five rows of buttons representing a full chromatic scale and covering a range of 5-6 octaves. There are both 3-row and 5-row button accordions, and in the five-row button accordion, the first and second rows of buttons are similar to the fourth and fifth. When played on it, this makes it easier to transition from one key to another.
The right accordion keyboard is a row of massive piano-like keys. As a rule, there are 41 keys on the fretboard. The right keyboard also has several register switches. With their help, they change the timbre of a sound or its pitch, making the sound an octave higher or lower. Concert accordion models also have switches that you can press with your chin without interrupting your play.
However, the accordion keyboard itself covers a smaller range than the accordion keyboard. As a button accordion-like musical instrument, the accordion (aside from the register switches) can only play three and a half octaves.
And finally, the main thing that distinguishes the button accordion from the accordion is the sound. In the accordion, the vocal tongues are tuned with a slight inconsistency, the musicians call it "on tap", which gives a more velvety sound. The accordion's reeds are tuned in unison, and the sound is clearer.
The most widely known accordions are those with a three-row keyboard in the right hand and with ready-made chords in the left, five- or six-row keyboard. Such accordions, at the place of their initial production and distribution, began to be called Moscow, in contrast to the so-called Leningrad, four-row. Now there are accordions with five rows on the right keyboard.
In addition, there are elective button accordions with a three-row keyboard in both the right and left hand. Here, chords are freely selectable on the keyboard, just like on the piano, depending on how they are written. Recently, combined button accordions have appeared, which can be played both as a button accordion with ready-made chords, and as an elective.
Orchestral accordions with one right keyboard are used in folk instrument orchestras. There is a whole family of them: piccolo, soprano, alto, tenor, bass and double bass. They differ from each other not only in range, but also in timbre. In addition, there are special orchestral - timbre button accordions: they sound similar to the flute, clarinet, bassoon and other instruments of a symphony orchestra.
Consider the device of a conventional three-row button accordion with ready-made chords.
The box-shaped wooden body of the button accordion consists of two halves interconnected by fur. Inside each half-case there are decks on which resonators with voice strips are fixed on the side of the fur, and outside there is a valve mechanism with a keyboard.
The keys of the right hand are placed on a special bar - the neck, and the left - on the front, half-body wall. Both mechanisms are covered from above with lattice covers. From the inside, the covers are pasted over with a thin thick cloth, which is a filter that protects voices from dust.
On the left half-body, a short belt is attached, under which, when playing, it is threaded left hand... In addition to playing the keyboard, the left hand stretches and squeezes the fur, forcing air.
TO right half two straps are attached to the body, which are worn over the shoulders and firmly hold the instrument during play, freeing the right hand from supporting forces.
The fur is a four-sided corrugated box, pasted over with fabric on the outside. The fur is glued to small narrow wooden frames, and they are already directly attached to both halves of the body using pins or hooks. The folds of the fur - the corners - are glued from the inside with strips of husky, thin soft deerskin, and on top for greater strength they are reinforced with special metal corners.
The button accordion body is glued from thin beech or birch planks. The corners of the body are glued into a tenon " dovetail". In addition, the corners from above are fixed with metal decorative plates that protect them from damage and sticking.
Unlike decks on other instruments, decks on button accordions are not a resonating device, but serve only as a mechanical airtight partition (diaphragm) between the fur chamber and the valve mechanism. They are made of good, even and durable plywood, birch or beech. Several rows of holes are drilled in the deck, which are blocked from the outside by valves and against which the holes of the resonance chambers are installed from the inside.
The sound on the button accordion arises as a result of vibrations of a thin steel plate (tongue, voice) above the slot through which a stream of air is driven. The slots are made in massive, durable stainless strips, brass, aluminum and others. The strips are solid or split, consisting of small plates, separate for each sound, more precisely, for each pair of reeds.
The tongues or voices are made of special spring steel, they are firmly riveted to the slats above the voice box slots. The dimensions of the slits, the length, width and thickness of the tongue depend on the pitch of the sound: they are the larger, the lower the sound, and vice versa. Small copper plates are soldered onto the reeds of the lowest bass tones to make them heavier.
Above the slit, on the side opposite to the tongue, a strip of husky is glued, which closes the glottis slit during the reverse movement of the air stream, and thereby reduces the air consumption, the fur consumption during the game.
Each pair of voices on the bar is opposite a small resonator chamber - a city. The volume of the chamber, its shape and dimensions are important for the strength and timbre of sound, therefore they are specially calculated and designed.
The pods together with the slats constitute a separate structure, the so-called resonators. Wide air holes are drilled at the bottom of each pot to match the holes in the deck. Resonators are glued from birch or alder. Each row of keys on the fretboard corresponds to a separate resonator.
In all connection points where there is a danger of air leakage: between the strips and the walls of the small caps, between the resonators and the soundboard, a seal is laid - strips of fluffy soft huskies. The strips are attached to the resonators with curved pins or small studs with wide heads. In addition, the edges of the planks are filled with molten wax.
The valves are small wooden plates, on the lower side of which strips of soft huskies are glued, and a wire leash is reinforced on top, with the help of which the valve rises and falls, blocking the holes in the deck. The fleecy side of the husky fits snugly against the soundboard, preventing any air from entering the voices, and softens the blow of the valve against the soundboard during play. Sometimes, to reduce the noise when playing, a strip of thin cloth is additionally laid between the valve tree and the husky.
The right keyboard keys are narrow wooden levers that fit into their respective slots on the neck and rotate on a wire shaft. From the side of the neck from above, at the ends of the keys, mother-of-pearl or celluloid buttons are fastened, and at the other ends, holes are drilled with the keys, into which the ends of the valve leashes are screwed or glued. Below in the sockets under the keys there are springs, under the action of which the valves are tightly pressed against the deck.
This is how all three rows of valves are arranged on those accordions, where the neck is located closer to the rear wall of the body. In the same place, where the neck is located closer to the middle of the body, the third row of valves has a slightly different device: the valve levers are bent in a special way and, with the help of two loops, are attached to a wooden bar glued to the deck. The end of the key is brought under the free curved end of the valve driver and presses on it, lifting the valve. In this case, the main valve springs are not installed: under the keys, but directly on the deck, near the axis of rotation of the leash. Under the key itself, in addition, there is an additional small spring that tightly presses the pushing end of the key to the end of the valve driver, eliminating the gap between them and inevitable in this case idling keys.
On the fretboard of a mass-produced button accordion, there are usually fifty-two keys, the range is from C-flat major to C-sharp of the fourth octave. On custom made accordions, the number of keys reaches fifty-eight, sixty-one and even sixty-four. Range at fifty-eight keys: G major to fourth octave E.
The structure of the mechanism of the left keyboard is much more complicated than the right one. - The presence of a bass, which has an octave tripling or even quadrupling, requires a special design of voice plates and resonators. The push-button system of mechanics should provide a wide selectivity of chords in the range of small and first octaves.
Consider the device of the left accordion keyboard, which has one hundred and twenty bass buttons: six rows of twenty buttons in a row.
Left keyboard associated with two rows of valves: one row (12) - bass, and the other (also 12) - chord voices.
Under the bass valves, there are four voice strips mounted on separate resonators, but assembled into one unit. The tuning of each bar differs from the adjacent one by an octave. When the valve is lifted, four octave sounds are sounded simultaneously, for example, when the bass button is pressed, C they sound simultaneously up to high, up to low, up to the first and up to the second octaves. This octave bass boost is necessary to create a certain strength and density of the sound. On some button accordions, the bass is only tripled: the bar for the highest voices is not set.
Each plank has twelve pairs of voices arranged in chromatic sequence. The range of all four bass bars is from the E of the controctave to the E flat of the second octave. The operation of the bass valves is controlled by the first two (counting from the bellows) rows of the left keyboard.
The entire complex chord keyboard controls the sound of only one resonator, which has two solid voice plates on it. There are twelve pairs of voices on each plank, they are located on both sides, as usual, and are tuned in chromatic sequence from G minor to F sharp of the first octave.
All bass and chord valves are connected with special rollers located along the valves parallel to the soundboard by means of pins. For each tone - a separate roller; thus, there are two sets of rollers — twelve bass rollers and twelve chord rollers.
Each roller has several pins that receive the force from the pushers, rigidly connected to the key by the button. The buttons are brought out through the corresponding holes to the front wall of the left half of the case.
When playing, the movement from the finger is transmitted through the push button, on which in a certain place - near the pin of the corresponding roller - there is a small pin. The pin hits the pin, which is rigidly attached to the roller, and causes the roller to turn. Turning, the roller moves the other stud on it, which is connected with the leash to the free end of the valve leash: the valve rises and opens the holes in the deck for air passage to the voices.
The mechanics of the chord keyboard also operate in a similar way, with the only difference that there are several pins on the pusher, which actuate several valves at the same time. So, for example, when you press the G minor triad button, the pusher with pins touches the pins of the rollers associated with the keys of the G, B flat and D sounds, and opens them.
The left accordion keyboard has six vertical rows of twenty buttons each. The first two rows, counting from the fur, are bass, the other four are chords. In the first row are the so-called auxiliary basses - a large third from the main bass; in the second - the main basses, tonics; in the third row - major, large triads; in the fourth, minor, minor triads; in the fifth - dominant seventh chords with a missing fifth; in the sixth - reduced seventh chords
The middle of the left keyboard has seven rows of white buttons, these are keys of "clean" tones, their main bass does not have sharp or flat. Below the white buttons are five rows of black buttons, the main bass of which is flat. Above the white keys are also five rows of black buttons, the main basses of which are sharp. The corresponding rows of the upper and lower black buttons, although they have different names, sound the same, they are enharmonically equal (for example, the key of C sharp is enharmonically equal to the key of D flat). In other words: the black buttons above and below duplicate each other. In addition, above the black buttons, there is one and below the black buttons - two rows of white buttons, which duplicate the three extreme rows of white buttons.
Such a large number of duplicate keys is necessary for the performer to be comfortable playing in any key without unnecessary jumps from the top of the keyboard to the bottom and. vice versa.
