Rocksichord

The Rock-Si-Chord (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Rocksichord or Roxichord)^{[<span title="A citation supporting the claim that "Rock-Si-Chord" is the correct spelling (proving a positive) would be preferable. (December 2013)">citation needed]} is an electronic keyboard invented in 1967 to approximate the sound of the harpsichord. As its name suggests, it was intended primarily for use in rock music, where a standard acoustic harpsichord would be drowned out.

The Rock-Si-Chord, manufactured by Rocky Mount Instruments (RMI), a division of Allen Organs Inc, was a solid-state instrument using one or two transistor oscillators per key, and was the first example of a type of instrument generally known as the electronic piano (contrast electric piano). Later RMI instruments also included piano sounds.

The prototype Rock-Si-Chord gave the Philadelphia psychedelic rock band The Mandrake Memorial their signature sound.^{[citation needed]}

Composer George Crumb specifies the use of an electric harpsichord in his 1968 composition Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death;^{[citation needed]} however, he does not specifically call in the score for a Rock-Si-Chord, and thus it could also refer to a Baldwin Combo Harpsichord, an electromechanical instrument dating from the same era.

Around the same time Terry Riley used a Rock-Si-Chord, among other keyboard instruments, in his piece A Rainbow in Curved Air.^{[citation needed]}

Orchestrator Jonathan Tunick used a combined Rock-Si-Chord/Electric Piano in the Stephen Sondheim musical "Company" (1970). He considers the instrument now obsolete and recommends the use of a current electric keyboard.^{[citation needed]}

Later notable examples include the 1990s band Quasi, but it has also been used in jazz (by Call Cobbs, Jr. and Sun Ra).^{[citation needed]}

Artists and groups using a Rock-Si-Chord

• The Band, played by Garth Hudson through a Telegraph key on This Wheel's on Fire (song)
• The Beach Boys (on Sunflower)
• Chevy Chase's Chamaeleon Church
• Call Cobbs, Jr.
• Sam Coomes with Quasi
• Genesis
• Dr. John
• Michael Kamen
• John Lennon
• Magic Hero vs Rock People
• Mandrake Memorial
• New York Rock and Roll Ensemble
• Terry Riley (on A Rainbow in Curved Air)
• Stereolab (on Sound-Dust)
• Sun Ra
• Rick Wakeman (solo and with Yes)
• Wilco (on A Ghost is Born)
• Edgar Winter