dampers. This is the first pedal mechanism seen on any keyboard instrument. The overall dimensions of the instrument – a case length of around 7 feet - allow for long enough strings to give true bass pitch and tone and long enough keys to allow for a delicacy of leverage that offers the player a wide dynamic range (optimum key and string lengths are the reasons for the great length of modern performance quality grand pianos - 275–301 cm). The instrument's harpsichord pedigree is evident in the shallow 1/4 in key dip one is used to in the harpsichord action instead of the modern piano's 3/8 in. It has a lightness of tone from the narrow-gauge stringing and the duration of string vibration decreases gradually as you progress up the keyboard so that the treble section notes fade quickly, not having the longevity we expect from later pianos. The Backers escapement gives the keys a feeling of lightness and the action a responsiveness that allows for very rapid playing. These properties, combined with the smoothness and responsiveness of the escapement, encourage the player to adopt a right hand style that majors on scales and ornamentation overlaying sustained bass notes and chords since the hammer action gives the tenor and bass register considerable power, duration and harmonic richness and complexity through each note - tones that cannot be achieved by the string plucking action of a harpsichord. So the instrument is most suited to transitional music written for the early piano by composers such as Haydn and Mozart who migrated from the harpsichord to the piano during their careers and compositional development. This music retains the right-hand style of the harpsichord, i.e. fast runs and ornaments because treble notes cannot sustain for very long, but innovates with a left hand style that throws over the standard "grounds" in favour of long sustained bass notes and chords that support and harmonize with the melody. Neither the compass nor the sonic performance would suit later works of the 19th Century composers. That said, it is possible to play some very modern music most successfully on the instrument. For example, Richard Rodney Bennett's book of simple modal pieces The Days of the Week, sounded well on the piano, giving the music the wistful and ethereal quality sought and marked by the composer. The power of the instrument is incisive enough to fill a large