The harpsichord produces sound by plucking strings with quills or leather plectra.
When a player presses a key, a mechanism called a jack rises and carries a small plectrum past a string. The plectrum plucks the string rather than striking it, creating the instrument’s bright, immediately articulated tone.
Harpsichords were central to European keyboard music from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Composers including Johann Sebastian Bach, François Couperin, and Domenico Scarlatti wrote extensively for them.
Unlike a piano, the traditional harpsichord cannot create normal dynamic changes simply by pressing a key harder. Many harpsichords have multiple keyboards and sets of strings, allowing changes in registration and timbre.