Engineering:Rocksichord
The Rock-Si-Chord (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Rocksichord or Roxichord)[citation needed] is an electronic keyboard invented in 1967 to approximate the sound of the harpsichord.[1]
As its name suggests, it was intended primarily for use in rock music, where a standard acoustic harpsichord would be drowned out.
The Rock-Si-Chord, manufactured by Rocky Mount Instruments (RMI), a division of Allen Organs Inc, was a solid-state instrument using one or two transistor oscillators per key, and was the first example of a type of instrument generally known as the electronic piano (contrast electric piano). Later RMI instruments also included piano sounds.
The prototype Rock-Si-Chord gave the Philadelphia psychedelic rock band The Mandrake Memorial their signature sound.[citation needed]
Composer George Crumb specifies the use of an electric harpsichord in his 1968 composition "Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death";[citation needed] however, he does not specifically call in the score for a Rock-Si-Chord, and thus it could also refer to a Baldwin Combo Harpsichord, an electromechanical instrument dating from the same era.
Around the same time Terry Riley used a Rock-Si-Chord, among other keyboard instruments, in his piece "A Rainbow in Curved Air" (1969).[citation needed]
Orchestrator Jonathan Tunick used a combined Rock-Si-Chord/Electric Piano in the Stephen Sondheim musical Company (1970). He considers the instrument now obsolete and recommends the use of a current electric keyboard.[citation needed]
Later notable examples include the 1990s band Quasi, but it has also been used in jazz (by Call Cobbs, Jr. and Sun Ra).[citation needed]
Artists and groups using a Rock-Si-Chord
- Northwind
- The Band, played by Garth Hudson through a Telegraph key on This Wheel's on Fire
- The Beach Boys (on Sunflower)
- Chevy Chase's Chamaeleon Church
- Call Cobbs, Jr.
- Sam Coomes with Quasi
- Genesis
- Dr. John
- Michael Kamen
- John Lennon
- Mandrake Memorial
- New York Rock and Roll Ensemble
- Terry Riley (on A Rainbow in Curved Air)
- Stereolab (on Sound-Dust)
- Sun Ra
- Rick Wakeman (solo and with Yes)
- Mark Welsh
- Wilco (on A Ghost is Born)
- Edgar Winter
- Steve Winwood with Blind Faith
References
- ↑ "RMI Rock-Si-Chord does the whole bit". Billboard (Billboard Publications, Inc.) 79 (40): 16. October 7, 1967. https://books.google.com/books?id=9ycEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16#v=onepage&q&f=false.
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