Clavioline

The clavioline is an electronic keyboard instrument, a forerunner to the analog synthesizer.

It was invented by Constant Martin in 1947. It consists of a keyboard and a separate amplifier and speaker unit. The keyboard usually covered three octaves, and had a number of switches to alter the tone of the sound produced, add vibrato, and provide other effects. Several models were produced by different companies; among the more important were the Standard, Reverb, and Concert models by Gibson and Selmer in the 1950s. The 6-octave model developed by Harald Bode employed octave transposition.

In England the Jennings Organ Company's first successful product was the Univox, an early self-powered electronic keyboard based on the Selmer Clavioline.

Recordings

The clavioline has been utilized on a number of recordings in popular music as well as in film. A selection follows.

• Little Red Monkey (1953) by Frank Chacksfield’s Tunesmiths features Jack Jordan on clavioline. This was the first record featuring an electronic instrument to feature on the UK pop chart (April 1953).
• In 1953–54, Van Phillips composed music for the clavioline for the science-fiction radio trilogy Journey Into Space.
• In the Bollywood Hindi film Nagin (1954), Kalyanji Virji Shah plays the legendary snake-charmer tune Man dole mera, tan dole mere on the on Clavioline, under the musical direction of Hemant Kumar.
• Runaway (1961) by Del Shannon features a famous solo by Max Crook, performed on a heavily modified clavioline that he called the “Musitron”.
• The Joe Meek hit instrumental Telstar (1962) by The Tornados features the Univox Clavioline.
• On the jazz albums The Magic City (1966) and The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two (1966) by Sun Ra, the clavioline can be heard.
• Baby, You're a Rich Man (1967) by The Beatles.
• Icky Thump (2007) by The White Stripes.

External links

• Reid, Gordon. “The Story of the Clavioline.” Sound on Sound (March 2007).
• Claviolines information page Chestnut Bank Productions