thumb|A drawing of a piano with a chiroplast installed on it, from French patent documents A '''''chiroplast''''' is an instrument to guide the hands and fingers of pupils in playing on the piano, invented and patented by Johann Bernhard Logier in 1814.<ref name="afc">Michael Kassler, A.F.C. Kollmann's Quarterly Musical Register (1812). An annotated edition with an introduction to his life and works, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 15 Dec 2008, {{ISBN|0-7546-6064-8}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rzP2qXHANQQC&dq=chiroplast&pg=PA123 pp. 123–31.]</ref><ref name=":0" /> The instrument was a device that placed the wrist, thumb and fingers of a hand above five consecutive white keys of a keyboard, to overcome the difficulty of retaining their proper position by beginners.<ref name="afc" />
The instrument was a key part of Logier's system of teaching, which was one of the first to call for the teaching of multiple students at once.<ref name=":02">{{DNB|wstitle=Eager, John|volume=16|last=Maitland|first=John Alexander Fuller|author-link=John Alexander Fuller Maitland|pages=311-312|short=1}}</ref> The use of the chiroplast caused a significant amount of criticism and controversy at the time,<ref name="afc" /> at least part of which was due to the heavy opposition to Logier's system by musicians fearing the loss of their students to centralized institutions teaching multiple students at once.<ref name=":0" />
After being invented by Logier in 1814, it quickly became used by many.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Gerig |first=Reginald R. |url=https://archive.org/details/famouspianiststh0000geri |title=Famous pianists & their technique |date=1974 |publisher=Washington : R. B. Luce |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-88331-066-3}}</ref> It was very popular in London in the 1810s and 1820s.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Weitzmann |first1=Karl Friedrich |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpianofo00weit/page/150/mode/2up |title=A history of pianoforte-playing and pianoforte-literature |last2=Lessmann |first2=Otto |date=1897 |publisher=New York : G. Shirmer |others=University of California Libraries |pages=150–151}}</ref> In 1822, Logier was invited by the Prussian government to Germany to set up a school instructing teachers on how to teach the use of the device in the country.<ref name=":3" />
== Description == The device consisted of a wooden framework screwed into place over the whole length of the keyboard.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Rainbow |first=Bernarr |date=1990 |title=Johann Bernhard Logier and the Chiroplast Controversy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/966259 |journal=The Musical Times |volume=131 |issue=1766 |pages=193–196 |doi=10.2307/966259 |jstor=966259 |issn=0027-4666|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The user passed their wrists through two parallel wooden bars,<ref name=":0" /> which kept the hands at the correct distance from the keys.<ref name=":2" /> They then put their fingers into slots in two flat brass frames called "finger-guides" which could freely slide horizontally along a brass rod along the whole length of the keyboard.<ref name=":0" /> Each finger-guide had five divisions, through which each finger was placed.<ref name=":1">{{Cite Grove1900|wstitle= Chiroplast |volume= 1.11 | pages= 346-347 |last= Taylor |first= Franklin |author-link= Franklin Taylor |year=1900| short=1}}</ref> Each finger-guide was also attached to a stiff brass wire with a regulating screw, which kept the wrist in the proper position relative to the arm.<ref name=":1" />{{Clarification needed|date=September 2024}}
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Musical instrument parts and accessories Category:Piano