The Claviola is a

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

that was designed in the 1960s by

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

technician and designer

Ernst Zacharias Ernst Zacharias (21 June 1924 – 6 July 2020) was a German musician and engineer. In the 1950s and 1960s, he invented various electro-mechanical musical instruments for the German musical instrument manufacturer Hohner, including the Cembalet, t ...

(inventor of the Pianet and Clavinet). The instrument was produced for a few months in the late 1990s before being discontinued. Similar to a

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...

(which is still in production), but worn like an accordion, the claviola has a set of

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

keys on the right side that range 2½ octaves. The left side is a set of pipes that range in length depending on the corresponding pitch. In combination with the pipes, the claviola uses reeds blown from the "wrong" side compared to reeds in most Western free-reed instruments, resulting in a much mellower, less reedy tone, and pitch dependent on the pipe length. The player can use his or her left hand to shade or cover the pipe openings, to bend notes or add vibrato. The Hohner Claviola is best known for its use by the band

One Ring Zero One Ring Zero is a modern music group led by Joshua Camp and Michael Hearst that melds many genres and sounds to create a unique type of music. Instruments Hearst plays the theremin and guitar, and Camp plays the accordion and piano. They both ...

and the jazz/folk musician Misha Alperin (Moscow Art Trio). Other musicians who use the Hohner Claviola include

John Medeski Anthony John Medeski (born June 28, 1965) is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood. He plays the acoustic piano ...

, Rob Burger, Michael Hearst, and John Spiers. The name "Claviola" was also used by the German firm of Ludwig Hupfeld for one type of their self-playing pianos which were made from 1904 until about 1930.

References

Keyboard instruments Sets of free reeds {{FreeReed-instrument-stub