MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: INSTRUMENT TYPE

Keyboards

Electrophones are musical instruments that use an electrical current to produce sound, which is then usually amplified and passed through a loud speaker. Most of the electrophones in the Horniman Museum collection have links with popular music in the 20th century. The guitar was one of the first instruments to gain wide acceptance in an electric form, and the collection includes examples of electric guitars by Fender, Höfner, Vox and Encore.

Piano style keyboards have also proved to be an effective way of manipulating electrically produced sound. The Moog brought electronic keyboards into the mainstream in the 1970s, and the Yamaha DX7 was a defining sound of the New Romantic movement in the 1980s.

Electrical sound production was also applied to a range of other musical instruments in the late 20th century, usually to simplify the amplification process. The drum synthesizer is an example of a percussion instrument that has been adapted for use in amplified ensembles.

Featured examples