Jammer Advantages?
Of all the possible isomorphic keyboard layouts, the Wicki-Hayden layout may be the fastest and most ergonomic, in theory. How does this layout actually turn out in practice?
I have experimented (my skill level is too low to say I ‘played’) with several hundred musical pieces using training programs Piano Marvel & Musiah, and the pieces assigned in the Douglas College MUSC 1160/1260 (Introductory Class Piano) courses over 8 months. This posting lists the positives I found.
The jammer has these advantages:
- Four fingers can span well over an octave in routine melody and chord patterns without undue twisting or moving the hand.
Mild stretching or hand twisting allows covering more than 2 octaves for special effects.
Only four fingers are needed, leaving the thumb available to play extra notes. The index finger is capable of playing all “flat” (black-key) accidentals that come up, and the little finger can play four “sharp” accidentals. - The thumb is comfortably positioned and available to play many useful extra notes below the melody or chord the fingers are playing.
In particular, a fourth, fifth, octave, an octave+fourth, octave+fifth and double-octave below are very easy to play with one hand. In other words, the thumb is freed to play a simple bass line, or thumb-operated pitch & modulation controls. - More notes are under the fingers than with the standard keyboard.
On the jammer, using only the fingers, the player can immediately reach about 20 or so keys. On the standard keyboard, at any given time, the fingers and thumb can touch immediately about 13 notes or so; seven fewer keys. - The jammer has a standardized, quick-to-learn fingering.
The jammer can be played with the hands in consistent positions, using a simple, uniform set of finger movements.
The piano requires many complex movements, requiring various special techniques to speed play, like flipping the thumb under the hand or using the sustain pedal or pre-positioning the hand. These take time to learn.
I can play arpeggios, complex scale patterns and chord progression faster on the jammer in all keys than on the piano (except some exercises (e.g. Hannon) that play better in C. - Big jumps (octave or more) are faster to learn and easier to perform.
On the jammer, the hands need move a tenth the distance in a consistent direction or less to skip an octave.
A much shorter, uniform travel distance helps the hand move quickly.
Jammer key size, and key location match human finger size and finger flexibility.
I can play arpeggios on the jammer, in all keys, faster than I can play them, in half as many keys, on the piano, despite having spent more hours practicing arpeggios on the piano. - Each chord, in each inversion, is always the same “shape”, thus easier to learn.
On the jammer, the fingers always form the same 'shape' when pressing the keys for the chord for a given inversion, regardless of key (*)
For the major, minor, diminished and augmented triads, only twelve shapes need be learned.
The pianist's fingers have to reach in many ways to press the keys to make a chord: every chord has many “shapes” and the shape varies by key and inversion
* Some pianists argue that small shape differences, e.g. flattening one note, are trivial; not really a different 'shape'. - Chord progressions need only small finger movements.
On the jammer, the fingers generally only have to move to an an adjacent or pair of keys.
I found fingering some progressions on the piano to be awkward, especially in keys where the thumb had to press a black key, forcing hand adjustment, and perhaps starting with a different finger. This is a lot to learn. - Playing multiple notes with one finger is a very useful option
The great advantage of the Wicki-Hayden layout’s adjacent major second, fourth and fifths: there are so many chords that contain these intervals. Playing two or occasionally three notes with a single finger makes for a reduction in finger movement and consequently an increase in play smoothness and speed. - Occasionally, sliding between notes is a handy trick. Especially useful for the index finger, which has to play all the flats and the fourth. Most commonly the minor third is followed by the fourth or vice-versa. It works well to slide the finger up or down a second. Another handy slide is up or down a fourth. (Moving up or down a fifth is rare for some reason.)
Note that the advantages listed above are technical fixes or improvements. This not surprising, as the jammer's Wicki-Hayden Key layout was chosen to fix known problems with the piano.
Summary of advantages
The jammer has lots of advantages over the piano, some quite significant.
But the jammer does have its problems. How do they stack up against the advantages? And does solving the technical problems create systemic problems?
See the next posting.
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Next: Jammer vs Piano - Part 6B - Jammer Problems
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