The Clavichord - from Rock to Funk and Bach Again

This is a tale of a mostly unsung keyboard instrument. It was developed in the late Middle Ages and was in use up through the Baroque period. Johann Sebastian Bach, in particular, used the instrument for composing his music. Music that ultimately wound up being performed on pipe organs started out being played on the diminutive clavichord during the composition phase. This was long before the modern piano, technically called the pianoforte, was developed. The clavichord functions similarly to a piano in that the keys operate hammers that strike the strings inside to create sound.

In the 1960s the German instrument company Hohner developed an electronic clavichord which they dubbed the Clavinet. In function, it resembled its ancient predecessor but added pickups, similar to electric guitar pickups. This allowed the sound to be amplified, as well as run through various effects like an electric guitar (phase shifter, wah-wah pedal, et cetera).

Originally envisioned primarily for home use (apparently a lot of German folk music was written on the clavichord), it wound up becoming a staple of popular music from the 1960s through the 1980s.

You can hear The Band's keyboard player, Garth Hudson, play a Clavinet through a wah-wah pedal on the classic Up on Cripple Creek. You hear it after each time Levon Helm sings, "A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one":

Of course, one cannot forget Stevie Wonder's use on the song Superstition:

The Led Zeppelin classic Trampled Under Foot uses the Clavinet extensively, including the song's intro hook:

Back to funk, Billy Preston had a big instrumental hit with Outa Space:

Even by the 1980s you could still hear it used, including on the Greg Khin Band song Jeopardy:

Not too shabby for an instrument dating back to the late Middle Ages.