Harpsichord Workshop

July 21 - July 22, 2025
About the Camp

Please join us for an exciting two-day workshop featuring renowned instrument builder Keith Hill and esteemed pedagogue specializing in aural perception, Marianne Ploger. In addition to hands-on training regarding the care and maintenance of harpsichords, lecture discussions will delve into the development of keyboard instruments over the past few centuries and the best ways to play them. Topics of musical communication will also be explored, especially Johan Sebastian Bach's Cantabile style of playing, and the relationship of pitch, perception, and musical meaning will be a particular focus. Each day will include a morning coaching session on Hill harpsichords - so bring some repertoire to play! Each evening will conclude with a concert by Malcolm Matthews.

This workshop is appropriate for all ages and experience levels.

Faculty

Keith Richard HillKeith Richard Hill (born 1948) is a prize winning American maker of musical instruments.  He has conducted research into the acoustical technology employed by musical instrument makers from 1550–1850, and used this knowledge to create hundreds of harpsichords, clavichords, fortepianos, and violins

Early life and education

Hill was born in China to missionary parents, and raised in the Philippines. He moved to the United States permanently in 1962. He attended music school at Michigan State University, studying piano and carillon with Wendell Westcott, organ with Corliss Arnold, and piano tuning and historical temperaments with Owen Jorgensen. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music in music history from Western Michigan University in 1971.

Hill became interested in making harpsichords while a student at Michigan State and built his first instrument there. He worked briefly making harpsichords for Rainer Schutze in Heidelberg, Germany and then for E.O. Witt in Three Rivers, Michigan before studying harpsichord performance with Anneke Uittenbosch at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He traveled around Europe and England making measurements of more than 150 antique harpsichords, fortepianos, clavichords, and virginals.

Career


In 1972 Hill opened a workshop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Initially working alone, he made on average 8 double-manual harpsichords each year. As interest in his instruments grew, Hill began to work with apprentices, some of whom later went on to become independent builders. During the early and mid-1980s Hill began extensive research into the acoustical technology of musical instrument makers from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods. Beginning in 1988, harpsichord production was moved to Manchester, Michigan.

In 1980 Hill designed and built a pedal harpsichord; the instrument was shown at the Boston Early Music Festival in the early 1980s. It is now the standard design copied by other instrument makers all over the world. In 2004 he performed an acoustical restoration of the 1658 Girolamo de Zentis harpsichord, originally part of the collection at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Hill wrote articles about instrument making for Continuo: The Magazine of Old Music,. including "The Anatomy of Authenticity" (1985) and "How to Judge a Harpsichord" (1985). In October 1987 Hill was Continuo's featured artist. Another article was titled "Plastic versus Quill" (Continuo, 1993).

After researching tanning methods and techniques for the making of hammer leather suitable for use on fortepianos, Hill developed a custom hammer leather.

Hill began making violins and studying violin varnish in 1978. After five years of experimentation, he developed a varnish made from wood ashes, water (to convert the ash to lye), linseed oil, and rosin. In 1994 he published his findings in an article in the Guild of American Luthiers Journal (#37) titled: "Ash Violin Varnish." Further research in 2012-13 led Hill to refine the varnish formula currently in use.

Later Hill compiled his knowledge into thirteen acoustical principles, creating a lengthy document, Treatise on the True Art of Making Musical Instruments—a Practical Guide to the Forgotten Craft of Enhancing Sound. This work has been published. It is used as the text for his Acoustical Technology Training program.

Hill has conducted his various researches in partnership with his wife, Marianne Ploger (Professor of Music Perception and Cognition at Vanderbilt University) and with Matthew Lammers DMA (Violin at Rice University, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Opus 1 Chamber Music School, Instructor of Chamber Music and Preparatory Violin Faculty, Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, Violinist, The Axiom Quartet), and his brother, Robert Hill (Director of the Early Music Program at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg in Germany). Hill and Ploger jointly re-wrote and revised an earlier article, "On Affect." They have collaborated in presenting a series of workshops on the craft of musical communication at conservatories and schools of music in Europe and the United States.

Hill maintains a violin and keyboard instrument making workshop in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Instruments built


Hill's production of musical instruments, known throughout the world, include 199 Double-manual Harpsichords (of which 6 are 16’ harpsichords), 143 Violins, 71 Single-manual Harpsichords, 9 Lautenwerks, 49 Clavichords, 39 Violas da Gamba, 22 Spinets, 19 Fortepianos, 11 Pedal Harpsichords, 8 Guitars, 10 Violas, 9 Cellos, and smaller numbers of various other heritage instruments.

Publications
• "The Craft of Musical Communication," Japanese Clavichord Society Journal (1996)
• "Area Tuning the Violin," Guild of American Luthiers Journal
• "Hints to Area Tuning the Violin," Guild of American Luthiers Journal (Vol. 1 #1)
• "The Dynamics of Viol Making," "Early Music" Jan. 1980 (vol. 8, n1), p. 77.
• "Ash Varnish: A Modern Alchemist's Recipe for Violin Varnish with all the Defects of 17th-century Italian Varnish," American Lutherie, (Spring 1994, n37), pp. 44-48.
• "Play from the Soul, an Artist's Science for Creativity," Philagnosis Press (2018)
• "Treatise on the True Art of Making Musical Instruments: A Practical Guide to the Hidden Craft of Enhancing Sound," Philagnosis Press (2018)

Tuition & Fees
  • $30 - Registration Fee
  • $99 - Cost per Day (includes daily lunch)
  • $10 - Parking Permit (optional)

Participants are responsible for securing their own housing, breakfast, and dinner.

Registration Information

To register, visit https://app.getacceptd.com/untmusicworkshops. Begin by selecting your Area (Keyboard) and Program (Harpsichord Workshop). For technical questions, please visit the Acceptd Help Desk.

Registration Deadline

  • July 10, 2025

Registration Policy

  • The registration fee, full tuition, and parking fees (optional) are due at the time of registration.
Refund Policy
  • Requested by June 1, 2025 – Full refund less $55 ($30 registration fee + $25 administrative fee)
  • Requested by July 1, 2025 – Full refund less $80 ($30 registration fee + $50 administrative fee)
Workshop Schedule

Monday

9:00am - 12:00pm

The Standard Model: Modern Performance Practice vs. Early Music (Informed) Performance Practice

Solving the Mystery of bach's Cantabile Style of Playing

The Craft of Musical Communication: 6 Techniques Explained from a Cognitive Point of View

Musical Meaning: Affect

Learning the Cantabile Style of Playing: Coaching Session (2hrs)

12:00pm - 1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm - 4:00pm

The Art of Voicing as Applied to Harpsichords, Clavichords, Fortepianos, and Organs

The Natural Touch for Playing the Harpsichord or Fortepiano

Why Bach insisted on Tuning and Maintaining his Harpsichord Himself

4:00pm - 5:00pm Continuo Introduction and Workshop with Malcolm Matthews
7:00pm

Faculty Recital: Malcolm Matthews, lautenwerk & Matthew Lammers, violin

Tuesday

9:00am - 12:00pm

The Secret Behind Perfect Pitch Perception

Understanding Musical Meaning: Why Relative Pitch Perception is Essential

Modern Pitch and Historical Pitch Affect Musical Meaning

Learning the Cantabile Style of Playing: Coaching Session (2hrs)

12:00pm - 1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm - 5:00pm

Everything You Wanted to Know About Acoustics of Harpsichords, Violins, Organs, etc.

Ar Historical Temperaments Essential to Musical Meaning?

Deciding to Buy a Harpsichord or Fortepiano?

What You Need to Know About Voicing and Regulating Harpsichords to Enhance Musical Meaning

A No-Fear Method for Voicing Harpsichords - Hands on Training

7:00pm Faculty Recital: Malcolm Matthew, harpsichord

Additional questions? Please contact us at music.camps@unt.edu or call (940) 369-6541.

For technical questions, please visit the Acceptd Help Desk.