Keyboard instruments for kids: piano, organ, harpsichord, and more

A keyboard instrument is any instrument played by pressing keys set out in a row. The piano, the organ, the harpsichord, and the celesta all look alike from the front. Inside, they work in four different ways. The piano strikes strings, the harpsichord plucks strings, the organ blows air through pipes, and the celesta strikes metal bars.

The keyboard itself

The pattern of keys is the same on all of them. White keys carry the seven letter names, A to G. Black keys sit between them in groups of two and three. A player who learns one keyboard can find the notes on any other.

What changes is what happens when a key goes down.

The piano: hammers strike strings

Pressing a key throws a felt hammer at a string. A light touch gives a soft sound, and a firm touch gives a loud one. The piano has been the main keyboard instrument since about 1800.

Hear: “Für Elise,” by Beethoven.

Read more in the piano for kids.

The harpsichord: quills pluck strings

Pressing a key lifts a small strip of wood called a jack. A tiny pick on the jack plucks the string as it passes. In the past, the pick was cut from a bird’s feather.

The sound is bright and crisp, with a ping at the start of each note. The key plucks the same way however hard it is pressed, so the player cannot play louder or softer with the fingers. Many harpsichords have two keyboards and several sets of strings, and the player switches between them to change the sound.

The harpsichord was the main keyboard instrument from the 1500s to the late 1700s. It plays in almost all Baroque music for groups.

Hear: The Aria from the Goldberg Variations, by Bach, played on a harpsichord.

The organ: air blows through pipes

A pipe organ has no strings. Each key opens a valve that lets air into a pipe, and the pipe sounds for as long as the key is held. Long pipes give low notes and short pipes give high ones.

More than one keyboard. An organ has two or more keyboards for the hands and a large keyboard on the floor for the feet. An organist plays tunes with the feet.

Stops. Knobs called stops switch sets of pipes on and off. Each set has its own sound: some like flutes, some like trumpets, some like strings. Pulling out many stops at once gives a huge sound. The saying “pull out all the stops” comes from the organ.

Size. A small organ has a few hundred pipes. The largest have more than 30,000. In the past, a helper pumped the air by hand. Today an electric fan does it.

The organ is the instrument of churches and large halls. Bach was a great organist and wrote a large body of music for it.

Hear: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, attributed to Bach.

The celesta: hammers strike metal bars

A celesta looks like a small upright piano. Inside, the hammers strike metal bars, and each bar sits over a wooden box that makes it ring. The sound is soft and bell-like.

The celesta was invented in Paris in 1886. Tchaikovsky heard it there and used it in The Nutcracker a few years later.

Hear: “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” by Tchaikovsky. See the Nutcracker Suite guide.

Other keyboards

The clavichord. A small, quiet keyboard for the home, used in Bach’s time. A metal blade presses against the string.

The accordion. A keyboard on one side and buttons on the other. Air from the bellows passes over metal reeds.

The electronic keyboard. No strings, pipes, or bars. It makes its sounds with electronics and can copy all of the above.

A quick guide

Instrument	What a key does	How it sounds
Piano	Throws a hammer at a string	Soft or loud, as the player chooses
Harpsichord	Plucks a string	Bright and crisp, at one volume
Organ	Lets air into a pipe	Steady, for as long as the key is held
Celesta	Throws a hammer at a metal bar	Soft, like bells

Things to do together

Name that keyboard. Play a short clip of each of the four. Ask your child which is which.

Pluck or strike. Play one Bach piece on harpsichord and again on piano. Ask which your child prefers.

Feet too. Watch a video of an organist. Find the keyboard on the floor.

Hold a note. On a piano, a note fades. On an organ, it lasts as long as the key is down. Listen for the difference.

Print and play

Print the piano keyboard chart. The harpsichord belongs to the period described in Baroque music for kids. For all four families of the orchestra, see instruments of the orchestra for kids.