Microtonal keyboards
Terumi Narushima · 2017
The main purpose of the various approaches to microtonality is to combine tuning theory with musical practice. Erv Wilson himself has made very significant contributions to microtonal instrument designs, including a variety of refretted guitars and many mallet percussion instruments, such as the tubular metallophones which he calls Tubulongs. This chapter examines the developments that have influenced Wilson directly and sheds light on his innovations in microtonal keyboard design. A microtonal composer needs an instrument which will hold its pitch once tuned and, since he is exploring delicate nuances of pitch relationships, Wilson needs a large number of pitches at his fingertips. Generalized keyboards are important to a discussion about microtonal keyboards because they offer a number of critical possibilities. Wilson&s;s detailed study of Macdowall Bosanquet&s;s generalized keyboard, as well as the Motorola Scalatron, highlighted many areas of concern in the design of microtonal instruments.