While allowing no real technical.
dexterity, they were sufficient to play plain-song and chant melodies, particularly with the use of.
more than one player. As time progressed, the keys became smaller and more numerous until they.
began to resemble the modern keyboard (except for range) in appearance ca. 1400. While these.
large early organs were used in limited fashion in churches, many of the organs of the twelfth and.
thirteenth centuries were known as portatives or regals. Portatives were small enough to be.
carried and played by a single person, one hand playing the keys and the other operating a single.
bellow. Due to the size limitations of portative organs, their range did not usually exceed two.
octaves; their use was to play plain-song and chant melodies, usually in processions. Similar to a.
portative, but larger, was the positive organ. " Positives were larger, standing on a table or the.
floor. They were played with both hands, had a larger compass, and required a second person to.
operate the bellows, of which there were usually two."" (Randel 485) The positive was sometimes.
added to a larger, stationary organ and joined to the larger's keyboard (two manuals), with the.
positive being located in front of the larger organ with the organist located between them.
(Hopkins & Rimbault 42-3) Up until this time, organs did not possess pedals. The pedal is.
generally attributed to a German named Bernard, organist to the Doge of Venice. It is thought.
that while he did not actually create the pedal board, he improved upon it to the point of being.
able to assign its creation to him, making it similar in concept to modern pedal boards only with a.
smaller range. (Hopkins & Rimbault 45-46) With the addition of the positive to the large organ,.
one began to have two sets of pipes associated with an organ. These two sets of pipes allowed.
there to be two distinct tones, similar to stops, to be produced from one organ, though they could.