Janko keyboard
From Free net encyclopedia
The Janko keyboard is a musical keyboard layout for a piano designed by Paul von Janko. Instead of the traditional two rows of white and black keys, the keyboard has an array of keys, which may also be colored accordingly to facilitate orientation.
C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A# C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A# C# D# F G A B C# D# F G A B C D E F# G# A# C D E F# G# A#
Each row of keys is a half step away from its neighboring rows, and on each row of keys the interval from one note to the next is a whole step. This key layout results in all chords and scales having the same "shape" on the keyboard with the same fingerings regardless of key, unlike a traditional keyboard, which might be regarded to "unjustly" prefer the C major scale. Also, chromatic movements, e.g. runs of intervals can be performed much more easily. A scale played with all whole steps, which is what is played on the subsequent keys of any one row, sounds very different from a regular musical scale, but is conceptually more "democratic".
Predecessors of this keyboard scheme appear e.g. in the German folk music instrument "(diatonische) Knopfharmonika", a kind of accordion, where it is still of widespread use.
There have also been adaptations of this keyboard concept to microtonal music, e.g. to let the rows progress not by half- but quarter-tones.