The present invention provides a musical instrument manual having keys that may be made of a material subject to warping and twisting, such as wood. A distal flexible suspension allows angular shifting of the distal end of each key of the manual to accomodate key warping. The flexible suspension enables angular displacement of the key lever about its distal end perpendicular to the plane of the playing surface of the key to allow the key to be played. The flexible suspension elastically opposes twisting of the key lever relative to the key bed.

A keyboard instrument includes keys containing a woody material and including natural note keys and accidental note keys. Each natural note key includes a first playing surface played to produce a natural note. Each accidental note key includes a second playing surface played to produce an accidental note. The first playing surface has a first colorimetric value representing a first color, and the second playing surface color has a second colorimetric value representing a second color. Each of the first and second colorimetric values is derived in accordance with an SCI method in an L*a*b* color space. The first and second colorimetric values satisfy at least one of: a first condition: E*ab17, or a second condition: H*<15 and 1.7<L*/c*<1.7. The first and second playing surfaces differ from each other in at least one of optical reflectance or surface roughness.