The clavichord borrows the pipe organ’s keyboard but substitutes horizontal strings for its pipes. Pressing a key causes an attached metal piece to strike a string or pair of strings inside the instrument, sounding the note. A clavichord looks like a flat, rectangular or oblong box about 1 foot wide and a bit more than 3 feet long. The musician typically places it on a table or similar flat surface for a performance.

Soft and silvery in tone, the clavichord allows great variety of expression. The volume varies slightly according to the force with which the keys are struck, but the instrument is never particularly loud. Clavichords are particularly popular in orchestral arrangements and as showpieces in the homes of well-to-do merchants.

(Magically enhanced versions of this instrument exist: the adventurer’s clavichord and the clavichord of mighty dynamics.)