Keyboard instrument

A musical instrument played with a set of keys that operate mechanisms to produce or control sound. Keyboard instruments include acoustic, mechanical, and electronic designs.

Musical keyboard: An arrangement of keys used to play musical notes, commonly ordered from low to high pitch. The shared interface links instruments whose sound-producing mechanisms differ.
Piano action: The mechanism that transfers a piano key's movement to a hammer and lets the hammer strike a string. It shows how a key can control a struck-string sound with graded force.
Pipe organ: A keyboard instrument that produces sound by sending air through pipes. It combines a keyboard with a large, air-driven collection of pipes.
Wind instrument: A musical instrument in which a vibrating air column produces sound. Wind instruments are generally controlled by breath and finger holes or valves, not a keyboard.
Musical instrument: A device made or adapted to produce musical sound. Keyboard instruments are one family within the broader range of musical instruments.
Organ pipe: A pipe that produces sound when air is directed through it by an organ's wind system. Organ keys open valves that send air to selected pipes.
Clavichord: A quiet keyboard instrument in which metal tangents strike and remain in contact with strings. It allows subtle pitch and dynamic inflection through direct contact with the strings.
String instrument: A musical instrument whose sound originates in vibrating strings. Many string instruments are played directly on their strings rather than through keys.
Musical tone: A sound with a perceptible pitch, often characterized by its frequency and harmonic spectrum. Key presses trigger or control tones, whose timbre depends on the instrument's sound source.
Reed organ: A keyboard instrument in which air vibrates free reeds to produce sound. Its keys select reeds, while bellows supply the airflow.

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