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The History of the Stringed Instrument to 1800
Stringed instruments of one type or another are employed in musical activities
worldwide. Despite some differences, they share many similarities in their mode of
construction and manner of performance. The stringed instrument has a structural and
playing adaptability that lends itself well to the rendition of the music of diverse cultures.
The way a stringed instrument works is a tightened material (silk gut, metal or nylon)
when plucked or bowed oscillates or vibrates at a certain frequency (cycles per second).
The instrument vibrates along with the string and amplifies the sound waves.
The harp is a stringed instrument in which the strings are plucked with the fingers. In
different forms it was played by people of nearly all lands throughout the ages.
The oldest stringed instrument that I could find is the Egyptian bow harp, taken from
Egyptian mural drawings. It dates back to 3000 B.C. and is with some probability the
ancestor of modern harps.
Another is a Cycladic marble statue of a harpist from the island of Keros. It was found
together with Phoenician idols which points to the possibility that this harp originated in
Phoenicia, which is mentioned in Greek literature as one of the countries that in ancient
times used triangular stringed instruments. It also dates back to 3000 B.C.
The Kithara originated in ancient Greece, dating back to 490 B.C. The Kithara was a
wooden string instrument that was played with a plectrum, which is similar to what we
know today as a pick, and was usually made from the horns of animals and shaped into a
device that looked similar to a spoon. The early form of the kithara had a rounded base,
while the later form had a flat base. The strings of the instrument were mainly made
from twisted sheep-gut, although, cord made from flax fibers were sometimes used as
well. Early Greek pottery depicts the kithara to have four strings, and later models
included seven strings. Tuning was accomplished with a tool known as a kollops, which
was made from pieces of hide from the neck of an ox. Most musicians held the kithara
wile standing because of its large size, which made the instrument easier to maneuver.
The lyre is closely associated with the kithara and is sometimes hard to distinguish in
ancient art. The instrument was similar to the kithara in respect to the tuning mechanisms
and with the way it was held, although the lyre was smaller and lighter. Because the lyre
was not as physically strong as the kithara, the pitch of the strings could not have been
wound as tight, resulting in a lower sounding instrument.
The best known of the historical Celtic harps was the Clairseach, a brass-wire strung Irish
harp played in highland Scotland. Having roughly 22 strings, the Clairseach was an
improvement on the ancient small harp or lyre, around 1100 A.D. The extra strings,
added in the treble, were needed not for playing melody, but in order to play Divisions.
Called Cors and Ports or “streams and openings”, harp divisions were runnings or
methodical variations based on a melodic ground. Today, divisions survive on the
highland pipes. Historical Celtic harpers played melody with the right hand below the
left, resulting in the melody being played on the lower pitch strings. The left thumb
played a high monotone drone.
The harp became particularly popular with the Irish from the 9th century. They adopted
the small instrument still in use, called the Irish harp, as a national symbol. The larger
instrument was well known on the Continent by the 12th century. It was during the 15th
century that the harp came to be made in three parts, as it is today: sound box, neck, and
pillar. The strings are stretched between the sound box and the neck, and the tuning pegs
are fastened into the neck. Chromatic harps appeared in the late 16th century, and had a
string for each tone of the chromatic scale. This was not as practical as the diatonic harp,
made in the late 17th century in the Tyrol and equipped with hooks capable of altering
the pitch of any string by a semitone. A pedal mechanism that shortened the strings was
devised around 1720 in Germany. The harp was perfected with Sébastien Erard’s
invention of the double-action pedals, which can shorten each string twice, raising the
pitch by a semitone or a tone. The harp appeared occasionally in the orchestra in the 18th
century, but regular appearances, as well as most of its solo literature dates from the late
19th century.
The Japanese koto is a harp-like zither about six feet long made of paulownia wood from
the Japanese kiri tree. The koto is said to resemble a dragon and even today, the koto’s
body parts are still referred to as dragon-head, dragon-back, dragon-legs, etc. The koto’s
13 strings are made of silk or nylon and are each of the same thickness. Each string is
tuned by a moveable bridge made of ivory or plastic, shaped like an inverted Y. Two
sounding holes are bored out of the backboard. The koto is played with three plectra or
picks made of ivory or plastic fitted into leather bands which are placed on the right
hand’s index finger, middle finger, and thumb. Traditionally, the koto scale is pentatonic
(five notes excluding the octave). The koto produces the purest musical tone of the
traditional Japanese stringed instruments; however, there are many special techniques of
koto, which produce added musical effects of noise in accordance with Japanese taste,
such as scraping and hitting the strings with the plectra.
The oldest instrument with neck and fingerboard I can find dates back to 2500 B.C. It is
from the dawn of human civilization, the Sumerians. It appears on a clay tablet attached
to the temple Bel between the Tigris " Euphrates Rivers. It shows a shepherd with a
flock of sheep playing an oval shaped instrument with a neck three times the length of the
body. Details like the number of strings, the existence of frets, or type of tuning pegs are
not clear.
Two Hittite sculptures were found that depict stringed instruments with fingerboards,
dating back to 1500 B.C. The fist was found at Sendshirli in North Syria by German
archeologists. The stringed instrument has a strap and rests on the player’s knee. The
player is shown with eyes fixed on the playing fingers of the left hand. The second
Hittite stringed instrument with fretboard is appearing in a sculpture on the castle ruins of
Bos-ojok in the northern part of Asia Minor. Very interesting details present themselves
for the first time in history, such as the sides incurve so as to bear a striking resemblance
to the modern guitar, several sound holes are visible, there is the appearance of frets in a
graded scale down the fretboard in a regular series, and it also appears that two strings are
attached to the head and a plectrum is attached by a ribbon.
The Ud, or Arabic Lute was introduced into Europe by the Moors during their occupation
and conquest of Spain around 711. The history of the Ud is ancient, going back far
beyond written history that currently exists. Through the crusades and trade, the Ud was
spread throughout Europe, and it was adopted as an instrument by the Europeans. Frets
were added and eventually the strings were doubled. It later became known as the lute.
A long necked lute type instrument shown on a Terre-cotta plaque from Babylon dates to
1250 B.C. and is now in the British Museum. The earliest occurrence of the guitar shape
in a short-necked lute was in central Asia shortly after the beginning of the Christian ear.
At this time central Asian lutes were of many kinds, the guitar shape is found in examples
dating from the 1st to 4th century. By 1200, you can see paintings and sculptures of
Europeans playing the lute, and by 1400 the players had adopted a standard tuning.
A Lute is a chordophone, an instrument that makes sound by the vibration of strings. The
Lute is built with only wood and glue; there are no nails or screws used in construction.
It is the first instrument for which we find a large quantity of written music. It was a very
respected musical instrument of its time, and probably the most popular stringed
instrument of the renaissance. There was more music written for the lute than any other
instrument in the renaissance. In the 14th century a stable tuning and design appear. It
had 4 sets of strings, and was played with a plectrum. As the music became more
complex, the lute was played with the fingers. The construction and the strings are very
light, much lighter than the guitar. A lute is a chordophone, an instrument that makes
sound by the vibration of strings.
Tablature was the early music notation used by the lute and many other instruments of
the renaissance. There were many different types: English, French, Italian, Spanish, and
German. The French used letters to show the player where to put the fingers on the
instrument, while the Italian used numbers.
The 16th and 17th centuries were the golden age of the lute. A tremendous amount of
music was composed and published. Professional lutenists were in demand by those that
could afford it and musicians were well paid. During the Renaissance the lute occupied a
special place that was only superseded by the human voice. It was the most popular
instrument of its time, and its repertoire was enormous.
A larger form was developed called the archlute. It gave rise to the theorbo, which is
simply described as a large lute of the baroque period, and to the chitarrone, which was
supplanted by the Spanish vihuela and the modern guitar. The theorbo had an extra set of
bass strings, not stopped on a fingerboard as the regular set are but plucked as open
strings. These made it more suitable for playing baroque music than was the lute. It
originated in the late 16th century and survived until the end of the 18th century.
The mandolin can be described as a small, short-necked lute with eight strings. As a
descendent of the lute, the mandolin reaches back to some of the earliest musical
instruments. Developed from the mandola, a 17th century lute, the mandolin has a half
pear shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, plucked with the
fingers or with a plectrum. A smaller type was the Neapolitan mandolin, having four
pairs of strings. It became popular in the 18th century and is the usual present-day
mandolin. In popular music it is generally played with a tremolo motion. Notable uses
of the mandolin are in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and in pieces by Beethoven and Mahler.
The charango is a small ten-string lute that originated in South America. The back of the
instrument is traditionally fashioned from an armadillo. When the Spaniards came to
South America, they brought the vihuela (an ancestor of the guitar) with them. The
native people like the vihuela, but lacked the technology to shape the wood in that
manner. However, there was a convenient resource available to them: armadillo shells.
Thus the charango was born. It was a happy day for music, but a sad day for armadillos!
The Japanese shamisen or sangen is a three-stringed banjo-like lute. The instrument is
made of four boards of Chinese quince or oak, through which a stick made of red
sandalwood or Indian redwood is inserted. The skin covering both sides of the body is
usually cat skin, but dog skin is used as well. Three strings of different thickness are
strung between pegs and the lower end of the stick at the center of the lower board of the
body. The strings are plucked and struck by a plectrum, generally made of ivory or
tortoise shell, in the shape of a Ginkgo tree leaf. There is both an upper and lower bridge.
When the lowest string is struck, because it does not rest on the upper bridge, in addition
to the tone one hears a trailing sound caused by the other vibrating strings. The sounds
produced by the right hand plectrum together with left hand techniques of plucking,
stopping and sliding give a wide variety of timbre to the shamishen.
The pipa is a four-stringed lute, one of the oldest Chinese musical instruments which
appeared in Chinese written texts of the second century B.C. By Han Dynasty (206 B.C.
– 220 A.D.), the instrument developed into a form of four strings and twelve frets,
plucked with fingernails and known as pipa or qin-pipa. By the Tang Dynasty (618 –
907), the pipa was one of the most popular instruments, and has maintained its appeal in
solo as well as chamber genres ever since. The pipa music has been loved by Chinese
people through the centuries. The development of finger techniques for both hands
achieved a high standard by the masters from each school. The present day pipa
techniques are mostly the fusion of those different schools. Many of the compositions
that make up the traditional repertoire, which were handed down from generation to
generation through individual artists and scholars, date back hundreds of years, while
others are part of a body of compositions that are dynamic and growing.
The balalaika did not appear in Russia until 1700. It has a triangular body and a long
fretted neck. Usually there are three strings, which are generally plucked with a pick.
The balalaika is made in various sizes, and several may be combined to make a band or
orchestra. A similar instrument, the bandura, is found in Ukraine and Russia, and other
types are to be found in the countries of the Middle East, where the balalaika almost
certainly originated. Like the guitar, the balalaika has been much used to accompany folk
songs and country dances.
Slaves brought the banjo to America by 1688 from West Africa, and it is thought to have
come from Europe or Asia. The banjo has a body resembling that of a tambourine. It
consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched. It has a long, often fretted
neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers. The banjo
was played in minstrel shows in the 19th century. It is used frequently in hillbilly and
Southern folk music. Because of an incisive, percussive quality, it is often used as a
rhythm or a solo instrument in Dixieland bands.
Earlier versions of the guitar had pairs of strings like the lute. The guitar usually has a
flat back, sides that curve inward to form a waist, and a fretted neck. The traditional
classical guitar appeared as early as the 12th century in Spain, the country with which it
is particularly associated. It was very popular there in the 16th century, when much
music was written for it. The composer Fernando Sor was a brilliant guitarist who wrote
many important works for that instrument.
Around the middle to the end of the 9th century, there are several discussions of an
instrument called a rabab in the Arabic lands. Unfortunately, no physical examples of the
instrument have survived to the present, and early Islam forbade depictions of the real
world, so the only existing contemporary evidence is literary. This evidence does give us
some very detailed descriptions of the form and method of playing the instrument. It was
bowed by a string rubbed with resin attached to a bent shaft, which was drawn across the
strings. The left had is described as being used to stop the strings to create different
pitches while the right hand manipulates the box. The shape of the rabab is described
having a long narrow neck with a pear shaped body. Strings were attached to an endpin
and had tunable pegs at the other end. The rabab had no frets; it was played upright on
the lap, with the instrument facing away from the player. The strings were tuned in
fifths. Later evidence tells us that the instruments were made with a dried gourd body, a
tightened skin soundboard and a wooden neck. The preferred string material was twisted
silk, though dried gut was also used.
By the 11th century, the instrument had found its way into Byzantium and Spain. The
Byzantine instrument was held point up, like the Arabic style, though the bow was long
and flat, as opposed to curved. The Spanish one was more like the Arabic version. The
earliest Spanish example is the Catalan Psalter from the middle of the 11th century. A
change in the number of strings occurred as the instrument moved into Europe. The
Byzantine instrument had only 2 strings, but the new instrument had anywhere from 2-3,
sometimes up to 6 strings.
By the middle of the 11th century the instrument was spreading over Europe into Spain,
France and Germany, and into England and the rest of Europe by 1100 or so. The
Europeans did not significantly change the form of the instrument, however several
changes did occur. The number of strings settled on 3 (or 6) instead of 2 (or 4). The
instrument was more regularly made of wood rather than gourd or skin, and the method
of playing shifted from the vertical lap position to a more horizontal position at the
shoulder, much like the modern violin.
The earliest depiction of a rebec like instrument has a pear shaped body blending into a
long narrow neck. There is a definite ancorpoint at the base, with a kind of fleur
tailpiece. There are only two strings, and the bow is very long and narrow. No sound
holes are shown, and the soundboard seems to be a distinct, attached piece, possibly a
skin covering much like in rababs. In its early history, the rebec was seen as a court
instrument. Bowed instruments of any kind were very popular in the 11th to 13th
centuries in royal society. Having musicians was a sign of status and wealth, a tradition
carried into the 14th century. During the 13th century, fiddles were invited into the
church as part of the musical presentation of the services. The instrument thrived through
the 14th century as a primary stringed instrument until the development of the competing
vielles and fiddles, which were fretted bowed instruments, easier to play as the musician
did not have to be as accurate with his or her finger placement. By the fifteenth century
its appeal in the courtly classes was diminishing, and it was regarded as a rustic
instrument, suitable mostly for peasant dances. The violin appears around the middle of
the century, and slowly supplanted all other bowed stringed instruments. By the end of
the 16th century, the rebec was wholly regarded as a plebian instrument, fit only for
public streets and taverns. “Dry as a rebec” became a popular derogatory comment.
Psalteries are found, in one form or another, in every major folk culture in the world
dating back thousands of years. They came is all shapes and sizes, some were plucked,
some were struck and some were bowed. The most sacred musical instrument of the
ancient Hebrews was a plucked psaltery with 10 strings, which dates back to biblical
times. The hammered dulcimer is actually a struck psaltery that originated in the Middle
East over 3000 years ago. The bowed psaltery probably dates back around 300 years ago
in Ireland but it was a great deal different from the ones we have today. Its shape was a
right triangle with the longest string on the left and the strings got shorter as they moved
down toward the right. This allowed the bow to get between the pins and reach every
string. It was held in the left hand and the bow was in the right hand.
The viol first appeared in Europe in the late 15th century and subsequently became one of
the most popular Renaissance and Baroque instruments, heard primarily in ensemble, or
consort music. The viol is a bowed string instrument and is similar to the cello, but is not
a direct ancestor of the violin. The viol’s early history is indefinite, but it is recognizable
in depictions from as early as the 11th century. During the second half of the 17th
century it lost its dominant position to the violin family and became practically extinct
until the general revival of interest in early music and instruments in the 20th century.
The viol differs from the violin in the manner of playing, in its shape, and in having frets
and typically six strings, tuned in fourths with on third, rather than in fifths. Most viols
are properly played upright, resting on or between the knees, with the bow held with the
palm upward. The viol usually has sloping shoulders, a flat back, and deeper ribs than
the violin.
Some of the different viol sizes include: Pardessus (high treble), Treble, Alto, Small
tenor, Tenor, Bass, and Violone (contrabass). Only the treble, tenor, and bass viols were
regular members of the consort. Some of the bass-pitched viols were specially tailored
for particular repertoires. The Division Viol, an English form of bass viola da gamba,
was used in the 17th century for performing free ornamentation by varying given
melodies. The Lyra Viol, a small bass viol, was popular during the 17th century. It
differed otherwise little from the standard bass viol. Its repertory, notated in tablature, is
pre-dominantly polyphonic and played mainly with the bow. The Viola Bastarda, an
Italian 16th and 17th century term for a small bass viol, is the continental equivalent of
the English Division Viol. The Viola d’amore was a kind of viola popular during the late
17th and 18th centuries. It is the size of a viola but with many characteristics of a viol,
including a flat back, sloping shoulders and a carved head. There are usually 14 strings,
seven bowed, and the rest sympathetic, tuned to the same notes. Its sound is particularly
soft and sweet and many composers have used it, especially in music of highly emotional
content.
The violin family of stringed musical instruments, having wooden bodies whose backs
and fronts are slightly convex, the fronts pierced by two f-shaped resonance holes, have
been the dominant bowed instruments because of their versatility, brilliance, and balance
of tone, and their wide dynamic range. A variety of sounds may be produced by different
types of bowing or by plucking the string, called pizzicato. The violin has always been
the most important member of the family, from the beginning being the principal
orchestral instrument and holding an equivalent position in chamber music and as a solo
instrument. The technique of the violin was developed much earlier than that of the viola
or violoncello.
The smallest of this group of instruments is also called violin, and its four strings, tuned
in fifths, run from the tailpiece at the base of the body over a bridge in the lower center,
along the fingerboard, and into the pegbox. The violin is played by drawing a horsehair
bow, held in the right hand, across the strings; the body is supported by the shoulder and
held firm by the chin. The fingers of the left hand are used to stop the strings against the
fingerboard, thus changing the pitch by shortening the vibrating length of the strings.
Within certain limitations, more than one note can be played at once, and the instrument
is capable of producing harmonic effects, and with a mute clamped to the bridge, hush,
and ethereal tones. It is the most agile of the family, and it has the greatest variety of
tone color.
The instrument first appeared about 1510 as the viola da bracchio (arm viol) and soon
spread through Europe. During the 16th century three sizes were known, a soprano
(corresponding to the modern viola), a tenor (a fifth lower), and a bass (a tone lower than
the present violoncello). The present-day violin appeared only near the end of the 16th
century. The earliest-known makers of the new instrument worked in Lombardy in the
mid-16th century. They were followed by Andrea Amati, founder of the Cremona school
of violinmaking made famous by the Guarneri family and by Antonio Stradivari. In
Stradivari’s work the peak of violinmaking seems to have been reached barely a century
after the emergence of the instrument itself.
The construction of the violin is made up of many parts. The main parts of a violin are
the front (or belly), top (or soundboard), back, ribs, neck, fingerboard, pegbox, scroll,
bridge, tailpiece, and f-holes (or sound holes). A hollow sound box joins the front, also
called the belly, the back and ribs. The sound post, which connects the front and back of
the violin, and the bass-bar, are used as support and are also important for the
transmission of sound. The strings are fastened to the tailpiece and stretched over the
bridge, fingerboard and to the pegbox, which houses four tuning pegs that are turned in
order to raise or lower the pitch of each individual string. The strings were originally
made of pure sheep’s gut. Some of today’s violins still have gut strings, but due to their
tendency to break easily, wire strings are more commonly used. The bow is made of
Pernambuco, and a band of horsehair is stretched and attached to each end of the
bowstick. It is about 75 cm long and is slightly curved.
The viola is about one seventh larger than the violin and is tuned a fifth lower. It is the
only original member of the violin family to exist continuously in the same size. Its tone
is deeper and less brilliant than that of the violin. In the 17th and early 18th centuries it
was used mainly as an accompanying instrument in the orchestra, but the classical period
made it much more independent. It is used mainly in the orchestra and chamber music,
but recently has become increasingly popular as a solo instrument.
The violincello, often called cello, is about twice as large as the violin and has four
strings tuned an octave lower than those of the viola. As the bass viola da bracchio, it
was originally tuned a tone lower than it now is, but the present tuning had become
standard by 1700. Because of its size, it is played between the knees like members of the
viol family. The bass viol was favored for solo playing in the 17th and early 18th
centuries, and the violincello became an important solo instrument only after the
disappearance of the viols and the subsequent refinement of cello technique by Jean
Louis Duport (1749 – 1819). The cello was, from its beginning, an important member of
the orchestra and is also indispensable in chamber music. It now has an extensive solo
literature of its own. The cello has a total length of 120 cm, the body accounting for 75
cm. The most common types of wood used are pear, pine, maple and sycamore. Due to
the varying densities of wood, varnish is used to create an even distribution of vibrations
throughout.
Also known as the contrabass, the double bass is the largest and lowest-pitched member
of the violin family. It originated as a double-bass viol, an instrument described as early
as 1566. A true double-bass violin appeared during the 18th century but was rejected as
unwieldy and of poor tonal quality. It is tuned in fourths and usually has a flat back and
sloping shoulders but has never attained a definitive form. The bow, the last to give up
its convex shape, was long held palm upward like the viol bow, but the violin style is
now customary. The double bass has a compass of about 2 ¼ octaves, and to avoid the
constant use of leger lines, the notes are written an octave higher.
“The highest goal of every human being, either directly or indirectly, is to reach the
absolute. Sages have enumerated a number of ways to attain this. But amongst all of
them, music is made known to be the simplest and easiest path. In the basis of his inner
feelings and emotions, man produced music and side by side, musical instruments, to
accompany him.”
- B. M. Sundaram
Keywords:
history stringed instrument stringed instruments type another employed musical activities
worldwide despite some differences they share many similarities their mode construction
manner performance stringed instrument structural playing adaptability that lends itself
well rendition music diverse cultures instrument works tightened material silk metal
nylon when plucked bowed oscillates vibrates certain frequency cycles second vibrates
along with string amplifies sound waves harp which strings plucked with fingers different
forms played people nearly lands throughout ages oldest that could find egyptian harp
taken from egyptian mural drawings dates back with some probability ancestor modern
harps another cycladic marble statue harpist from island keros found together phoenician
idols which points possibility that this harp originated phoenicia which mentioned greek
literature countries ancient times used triangular instruments also dates back kithara
originated ancient greece dating back kithara wooden string played plectrum similar what
know today pick usually made from horns animals shaped into device looked similar
spoon early form kithara rounded base while later form flat base strings were mainly
made twisted sheep although cord made flax fibers were sometimes used well early greek
pottery depicts have four strings later models included seven tuning accomplished tool
known kollops pieces hide neck most musicians held wile standing because large size
easier maneuver lyre closely associated sometimes hard distinguish ancient similar
respect tuning mechanisms held although lyre smaller lighter because lyre physically
strong pitch could have been wound tight resulting lower sounding best known historical
celtic harps clairseach brass wire strung irish played highland scotland having roughly
clairseach improvement small around extra added treble were needed playing melody
order play divisions called cors ports streams openings divisions runnings methodical
variations based melodic ground today divisions survive highland pipes historical celtic
harpers melody right hand below left resulting melody being lower pitch left thumb high
monotone drone became particularly popular irish century they adopted small still called
irish national symbol larger well known continent century during century came three
parts today sound neck pillar stretched between sound neck tuning pegs fastened into
chromatic harps appeared late string each tone chromatic scale this practical diatonic late
tyrol equipped hooks capable altering pitch semitone pedal mechanism shortened devised
around germany perfected bastien erard invention double action pedals shorten each
twice raising semitone tone appeared occasionally orchestra regular appearances most
solo literature dates late japanese koto like zither about feet long paulownia wood
japanese kiri tree koto said resemble dragon even koto body parts still referred dragon
head dragon legs silk nylon each same thickness tuned moveable bridge ivory plastic
shaped like inverted sounding holes bored backboard three plectra picks ivory plastic
fitted into leather bands placed right hand index finger middle finger thumb traditionally
scale pentatonic five notes excluding octave produces purest musical tone traditional
japanese instruments however there many special techniques produce added musical
effects noise accordance taste such scraping hitting plectra oldest fingerboard find dawn
human civilization sumerians appears clay tablet attached temple between tigris euphrates
rivers shows shepherd flock sheep playing oval shaped three times length body details
like number existence frets type pegs clear hittite sculptures found depict fingerboards
dating fist found sendshirli north syria german archeologists strap rests player knee player
shown eyes fixed fingers left hand second hittite fretboard appearing sculpture castle
ruins ojok northern part asia minor very interesting details present themselves first time
history such sides incurve bear striking resemblance modern guitar several holes visible
there appearance frets graded scale down fretboard regular series also appears attached
head plectrum attached ribbon arabic lute introduced europe moors during their
occupation conquest spain around history going beyond written currently exists through
crusades trade spread throughout europe adopted europeans frets added eventually
doubled later became lute long necked lute type shown terre cotta plaque babylon british
museum earliest occurrence guitar shape short necked central asia shortly after beginning
christian this time central asian lutes many kinds guitar shape examples dating paintings
sculptures europeans players adopted standard chordophone makes vibration built only
wood glue there nails screws used construction first find large quantity written music
very respected time probably most popular renaissance more music written than other
renaissance stable design appear sets plectrum became more complex fingers
construction very light much lighter than chordophone makes vibration tablature early
notation other renaissance different types english french italian spanish german french
letters show player where while italian numbers centuries golden tremendous amount
composed published professional lutenists demand those could afford musicians paid
during occupied special place only superseded human voice popular repertoire enormous
larger form developed called archlute gave rise theorbo simply described large baroque
period chitarrone supplanted spanish vihuela modern theorbo extra bass stopped
fingerboard regular plucked open these more suitable baroque than originated survived
until mandolin described small short necked eight descendent mandolin reaches some
earliest developed mandola mandolin half pear body fretted variable number smaller
neapolitan having four pairs usual present generally tremolo motion notable uses mozart
giovanni pieces beethoven mahler charango south america traditionally fashioned
armadillo when spaniards came south america they brought vihuela ancestor them native
people vihuela lacked technology shape wood manner however convenient resource
available them armadillo shells thus charango born happy armadillos shamisen sangen
banjo four boards chinese quince through stick sandalwood indian redwood inserted skin
covering both sides usually skin skin different thickness strung between pegs lower stick
center board struck generally ivory tortoise shell ginkgo tree leaf both upper bridge when
lowest struck because does rest upper bridge addition hears trailing caused other vibrating
sounds produced right together techniques plucking stopping sliding give wide variety
timbre shamishen pipa oldest chinese appeared chinese texts second dynasty developed
twelve fingernails pipa pipa tang dynasty maintained appeal solo chamber genres ever
since been loved people through centuries development finger techniques both hands
achieved high standard masters school present mostly fusion those schools compositions
make traditional repertoire handed down generation generation individual artists scholars
date hundreds years while others part compositions dynamic growing balalaika appear
russia until triangular long fretted usually generally pick balalaika various sizes several
combined make band orchestra bandura ukraine russia types countries middle east where
balalaika almost certainly been much accompany folk songs country dances slaves
brought banjo america west africa thought have come europe asia banjo resembling
tambourine consists hoop over membrane stretched often fretted nine pick minstrel shows
frequently hillbilly southern folk incisive percussive quality often rhythm solo dixieland
bands earlier versions pairs flat sides curve inward waist traditional classical spain
country particularly associated much composer fernando brilliant guitarist wrote
important works middle several discussions rabab arabic lands unfortunately physical
examples survived islam forbade depictions real world only existing contemporary
evidence literary evidence does give detailed descriptions method bowed rubbed resin
bent shaft drawn across described being stop create pitches manipulates rabab having
narrow pear endpin tunable rabab upright facing away tuned fifths evidence tells dried
gourd tightened soundboard wooden preferred material twisted silk though dried also
byzantium spain byzantine held point arabic style though flat opposed curved spanish
version earliest example catalan psalter change number occurred moved byzantine
anywhere sometimes spreading over france germany england rest europeans significantly
change however changes occur settled instead regularly rather gourd method shifted
vertical position horizontal position shoulder violin depiction rebec pear blending narrow
definite ancorpoint base kind fleur tailpiece narrow holes shown soundboard seems
distinct piece possibly covering rababs rebec seen court bowed kind centuries royal
society musicians sign status wealth tradition carried fiddles invited church part
presentation services thrived primary until development competing vielles fiddles easier
play musician accurate placement fifteenth appeal courtly classes diminishing regarded
rustic suitable mostly peasant dances violin appears slowly supplanted rebec wholly
regarded plebian public streets taverns derogatory comment psalteries another every
major folk culture world thousands years came shapes sizes struck sacred hebrews
psaltery biblical times hammered dulcimer actually psaltery east over years psaltery
probably ireland great deal ones triangle longest shorter moved down toward allowed
pins reach every viol first subsequently baroque heard primarily ensemble consort viol
cello direct ancestor violin viol indefinite recognizable depictions half lost dominant
position family practically extinct general revival interest differs manner typically tuned
fourths third rather fifths viols properly upright resting knees palm upward sloping
shoulders deeper ribs sizes include pardessus high treble treble alto tenor tenor bass
violone contrabass tenor bass viols members consort pitched viols specially tailored
particular repertoires division english viola gamba performing free ornamentation
varying given melodies lyra differed otherwise little standard repertory notated tablature
dominantly polyphonic mainly viola bastarda italian term continental equivalent english
division viola amore kind size characteristics including sloping shoulders carved head
seven rest sympathetic same notes particularly soft sweet composers especially highly
emotional content family wooden bodies whose backs fronts slightly convex fronts
pierced resonance dominant their versatility brilliance balance wide dynamic range
variety sounds produced types bowing plucking pizzicato always important member
family beginning being principal orchestral holding equivalent chamber technique earlier
violoncello smallest group fifths tailpiece center along fingerboard pegbox drawing
horsehair across supported shoulder firm chin stop against thus changing shortening
vibrating length within certain limitations note once capable producing harmonic effects
mute clamped hush ethereal tones agile greatest variety color about bracchio soon spread
soprano corresponding fifth violoncello near makers worked lombardy followed andrea
amati founder cremona school violinmaking famous guarneri antonio stradivari stradivari
work peak violinmaking seems reached barely after emergence itself parts main front
belly soundboard ribs pegbox scroll tailpiece hollow joins front belly ribs post connects
front support important transmission fastened stretched pegbox houses turned order raise
individual originally pure sheep violins still tendency break easily wire commonly
pernambuco band horsehair bowstick about slightly curved seventh larger fifth original
member exist continuously same size deeper less brilliant mainly accompanying
orchestra classical period independent chamber recently become increasingly violincello
often cello twice octave those bracchio originally become knees members favored
violincello after disappearance subsequent refinement cello technique jean louis duport
beginning member indispensable extensive literature total length accounting common
pine maple sycamore varying densities varnish create even distribution vibrations
throughout contrabass double largest lowest pitched double true rejected unwieldy poor
tonal quality fourths sloping shoulders never attained definitive last give convex palm
upward style customary compass octaves avoid constant leger lines notes octave higher
highest goal every human either directly indirectly reach absolute sages enumerated ways
attain amongst them simplest easiest path basis inner feelings emotions produced side
side accompany sundaram
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