Schiedmayer Celeste
Short Description: Rare Orchestral keyboard instrument with tuned tone boxes inside. It is a bit like a Glockenspiel with a Keyboard.

Keys: Is it 4 ½ octaves? Need to check.

Production period: Late 1800´s. My instrument is from 1925.

Used by: Claude Debussy (La mer), Paul Simon, Reminder, Björk, Aimee Mann, The Velvet Underground, Sigur Rós, Tom Waits (closing time & one from the heart), Frank Sinatra, Buddy Holly (everyday), Tchaikovsky (sugar plum fairy)

Sounds: A bit like a muffled Glockenspiel. Very fairytale like and magical.

Weight: I am not sure but it is pretty heavy.

Description:
Ever since I played in Orchestras I have always been a big fan of the Celeste. I used to play in Orchestras and the Celeste was very seldom used. Later on I started hearing the Celeste everywhere in popular music from the 50s and 60s. A lot of people who hear it in an orchestral setting would probably think it was a Glockenspiel. One of the big differences in sound is that you can play chords and fast arpeggios (which you can do if you are a skilled percussionist on a glockenspiel as well I know but it is easier to do with ten fingers than with two mallets). The Celeste isn’t as bright and percussive as a Glockenspiel. There for it is usually used in smaller settngs or sections where it really shines…It is one of those instruments that when you play it everyone goes…” Aaaah so that it what makes that sound “.
Frank Sinatra used it a lot on my favourite Sinatra album “In the wee small hours of the morning“. A wonderful combination of sounds is Harp and Celeste for those wee small hours in the morning moments.
The Celeste was invented in 1886 by Auguste Mustel. The name comes from the French word for Heavenly. A name that is very fitting. The Celeste has a very dreamlike quality and is often used in ballets and operas for dream sequences and fairy tales. The most known piece is probably the dance of the sugar plum Fairies by Tchaikovsky who heard the Celeste in Paris in the 80s (1880s that is).
The Celeste is a mechanical instrument. When you press a key a mallet strikes a tuned metal bar placed over a tone box (for resonance). This system is quite advanced and if you look inside the Celeste you’ll find wooden arms, resonator boxes in two rows, mallets and connections in what seems like a jumble but it is very well thought out. Every tone box is built exactly to the specs of the Metal bar that is supposed to resonate. Due to all the stuff that is inside The Celeste isn’t as dynamic as a piano and the sustain pedal isn’t all that sustain-ey.
Celestes are very expensive instruments and are only built when a order is placed. There are three companies who make Celestes today Sciedmayer, Mustel and Yamaha. Schiedmayer are considered the leaders in Celeste building today and are still owned and run by the schiedmayer family. They are usually purchased by Symphony orchestras and used once or twice a year for certain pieces. My hunt for a Celeste started about a year ago when I asked the movers who moved the Yamaha GX-1 into the studio if they knew of any Celestes that were just standing around collecting dust. I didn’t think anything would come of it. Three days later they called me up and told me that they had found one. My Celeste was originally owned by Rikskonserter and was sold in a package deal to a Piano tuner. He was thinking of fixing it up, refurnishing it and eventually selling it but didn’t come around to do it. Enter Mattias Olsson and Roth Händle Studios.
The Celeste is already a very cherished part of the Roth Händle set up and so far it has been used on the Sophie Meriem (or is it Rockwell ?) album.