The Claviola: The Forgotten Keyboard

The Hohner Claviola is one of the rarest acoustic keyboard instruments ever made. Designed by Ernst Zacharias (the inventor of the clavinet) and released by Hohner in the 1990s, the claviola plays like a cross between a melodica and an accordion, but sounds almost nothing like either. Frankly, I’m not even sure what it sounds like. It’s been compared to clarinets, ocarinas, and even electronic sine waves… but more than anything, it’s expressive, warm, and surprisingly easy to play. But almost nobody bought one, and only about 300 may exist. Today I'd like for you to come with me, to explore the claviola’s history, design, sound, and quirks, while trying to document and archive information about a piece of music history that has very little written about it online. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:41 What is the claviola? 1:31 Creation of the claviola 2:29 How the claviola works 4:30 The launch of the claviola 6:37 What's included with the claviola? 9:29 Maintaining the claviola 10:32 Modding the claviola 12:12 What has the claviola been featured in? 15:45 Did the claviola have any successors? 18:00 Does the claviola have any kind of future? 19:21 Outro Subscribe    / @benelliottsound   Contact: [email protected] Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h...