Word.ws English Dictionary

keybedding

keybedding noun: the fault of continuing to press down too hard on the keys of a keyboard instrument after the initial key depression that creates the sound, thus holding the keys against the keybed with excessive force beyond that needed to produce the sound and keep the keys from rising.

Noun

keybedding (uncountable)

  1. The fault of continuing to press down too hard on the keys of a keyboard instrument after the initial key depression that creates the sound, thus holding the keys against the keybed with excessive force beyond that needed to produce the sound and keep the keys from rising.
    • "Key-bedding," as a fault, arises when you mis-time the action intended to produce a tone, and mis-apply this force to the pads under the Keys instead of carefully timing its culmination and completion during key-descent and with the tone, and its cessation forthwith.1932, Tobias Matthay, “Section Section XI”, in The visible and invisible in pianoforte technique, 1964 edition, Oxford University Press, page E 41
    • "Keybedding" simply denotes the misapplication (or mistiming on to the pads under the keys) of the force intended to PRODUCE SOUND. In other words, the force (weight, or muscular work) is here applied too late during key-descent to be effective in producing the intended key-movement and tone. As a...1932, Tobias Matthay, The visible and invisible in pianoforte technique, 1964 edition, Oxford University Press, page 94

Origin of keybedding

From keybed + -ing. Coined by Tobias Matthay (see quotations below).

Questions about keybedding

What does keybedding mean?
Keybedding means the fault of continuing to press down too hard on the keys of a keyboard instrument after the initial key depression that creates the sound, thus holding the keys against the keybed with excessive force beyond that needed to produce the sound and keep the keys from rising.
What part of speech is keybedding?
Keybedding is a noun.

Words near keybedding in the dictionary

  1. keyakis
  2. Keyauwee
  3. Keyauwees
  4. Keybarbin
  5. keybed
  6. keybedding
  7. keybeds
  8. keybind
  9. keybinding
  10. keybindings
  11. keybinds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keybedding (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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