Editing Short octave (section)

===History===

The 18th-century author Quirinus van Blankenburg suggested that the C/E short octave originated as an extension of keyboards that went down only to F; the addition of just one key (nominal E) and the reassignment of the F{{Music|#}} and G{{Music|#}} added three new notes to the bass range. Van Blankenburg says that when the short octave was invented, it was called the "new extension" for this reason.<ref>Quoted from {{harvp|Hubbard|1967|p=237}}</ref> According to [[Frank Hubbard]], harpsichords and organs of the 16th and 17th centuries "almost always" had short octaves.{{sfnp|Hubbard|1967|p=5}}

[[Edward Kottick]] notes that the short octave persisted for a long time, suggests that a kind of mutual inertia between composers and instrument builders may have been responsible:
<blockquote>
Our forebears were much more practical than we are. Since nobody wrote music that required those notes, why go to the expense of putting them in? And what composer would bother to write them if few keyboard instruments had them?{{sfnp|Kottick|1987|p=32}}
</blockquote>

A transitional stage toward the final adoption of chromatic keyboards was seen in certain English [[virginals]] of the later 17th century. On these the lowest key could pluck two different strings, depending on the slot in which its jack was placed. One of these strings was tuned to low G (the normal pitch of this key in the G/B short octave) and the other to whatever missing chromatic pitch was desired. The player could then move the jack to the slot that provided the desired note, according to the piece being played.{{sfnp|Hubbard|1967|p=151 fn.}}