Yves Beaupré started making the piano’s predecessor, harpsichords, by hand back in the ‘60s and ‘70s when the instrument was undergoing a revival for its natural sound. At the time, musicians were making the instrument to recover how certain pieces were made to sound—specifically Bach’s compositions, which were originally written for the instrument.
“Luckily I was there at the beginning of the interest in harpsichord music,” he says from his Plateau organology studio specializing in harpsichord making.
“Our ears are used to listening to Bach on many instruments, but it's all the question of being used to the sound, the real sound, that (people) wanted to hear as it was played in that period.”
Harpsichord-making kits were popular during this revival as well, but they were made using bulky woods to imitate how pianos were built, still keeping with the more dominant instrument at the time.
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