Hurdy Gurdy Qwerty

What is Qwerty, and what is a hurdy-gurdy? The hurdy-gurdy is a musical instrument that originated in Europe and the Middle East from around the 800’s (9th century). It resembles a violin or similar-shaped string instruments. The melody is played on a mini keyboard attached to the neck. The keyboard across the instrument’s neck is played with the left hand. A crank handle is turned with the right hand to play the sound. The handle activates a wheel that contains rosin, a crystallized tree resin typically applied to a violin bow to produce a warm and natural sound. As the rosined wheel turns over the strings, the sound from your key-playing is heard from the instrument. Traditionally, the earliest hurdy-gurdy was called an “organistrum,” and was played by two people because it was so large. In the 18th century, the hurdy-gurdy gained popularity because it was a smaller instrument meant for solo performers. 

Although the organistrum was a wonderful instrument, music-making was dependent on a second player to produce sound. Today, the 10-finger typist may imagine their words to be a result of solo access to the keyboard without caregiver support. QWERTY is a term that originated in the 1800’s when keyboard typing was rearranged into non-alphabetical order. The letters in the word “qwerty” references a keyboard that has the first few letters arranged in the order of Q, W, E, and so on. When transitioning into a qwerty keyboard, the student may access daily-use applications that require familiarity and accuracy in this layout. Much like the hurdy-gurdy, a qwerty keyboard is designed for a single person to access typing faster than an alphabetical keyboard. 

On the qwerty keyboard, the most frequently used keys are arranged to sit under the fingers that are most accurately controlled in a motor skill. The less frequently used letters and numbers require the fingers, but not the hand, to move slightly out of position. Over time, practice ingrains the motor skill to the extent that 10-finger typing can be performed with accuracy without looking. Proficient typists and pianists move their fingers while keeping their gaze at the screen or the sheet music. In this book, our focus will be on accuracy rather than speed. Whether you are a solo typist or a duet artist, keep calm and qwerty on.

Lesson 1: Home Position 3

Lesson 2: Pointer Up 4

Week 3: Ring and Pinky Up 5

Lesson 4: Pointer Down 6

Lesson 5: Pointer Up Stretch 7

Lesson 6: Middle and Ring Down 8

Lesson 7: Review and Punctuation 9

Lesson 8: Short-Word Sentences 10