Portable Keyboards
Portable Keyboard Fast Facts
In 1906 the first electric musical instrument was demonstrated in Holyoke, Massachusetts – the Dynamophone. The instrument was played by a keyboard, used telephone wires to send its music, and weighted over two hundred tons! Even though the Dynamophone was experimental, it quickly led to the invention of many different types of electrical instruments we use today which brings us today to our well-known friend the portable keyboard.
A Brief History of the Portable Keyboard
Perhaps the most important electronic instrument of the twentieth century is the portable synthesizer. In 1955, RCA introduced the Olson-Belar Sound Synthesizer, a large electronic device capable of producing entirely new sounds, instead of altering sounds, as does the tape recorder. Although smaller than the two hundred-ton Dynamo phone, this new machine takes up one entire wall of the room where it is kept at Columbia University in New York.
The synthesizer’s introduction caused much excitement among composers interested in electronic music. However, the RCA machine was very expensive to build, complicated to operate, and very large. The next important step was for a smaller instrument to be developed. Only in this way would composers be able to write music using a synthesizer without having to travel to Columbia University.
Several different styles of smaller portables or synthesizers were introduced during the 1960s. Even though each of the new instruments was designed after the RCA giant, their smaller size kept them from doing as much as the RCA machine. However, composers all over the country and throughout the world were delighted with the smaller instruments and immediately went to work composing music for them. Today, synthesizers of various sizes and styles are found in recording studios and in college music departments everywhere. Many rock bands and popular music groups use the portable keyboards along with guitars, drums and other instruments.
The synthesizer is the most complicated instrument of music ever invented. It consists of several modules that are housed in a cabinet along with an internal power supply and all of the plugs, wires, and other electrical equipment necessary for it to function.
View entire Portable Keyboard Collection
Copyright © 2007
Musical Instrument Shopping Store
All Rights Reserved
