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Estonian folk music instruments. Taive Särg
In earlier times all music instruments (incl. fiddles, accordions) were made at home.
Musical instruments had many functions in folk culture. Musical instruments
 accompanied ritual practices
 provided music for dance
 developed musical capacities of children (musical instrument as a sonic toy)
 served hunters and herdsmen as a vital tool, that affected the catch or wellbeing of the village herd
 were often used to signal information
 provided a human being with feelings of relaxation and aesthetic enjoyment.
The international classification of music instruments was in 1914 prepared by
Austrian scientists Curt Sachs and Eduard Hornbostel in order to provide a system for
the instruments of the peoples of the world according to their sound creating principle.
 aerophones (wind instruments and instruments with bellows),
 cordophones (stringed instruments),
 idiophones (that produce their sound from the body of the instrument itself),
 membranophones (instruments with a vibrating membrane).
Aerophones
is the largest group. Wind instruments were made of natural material available (bark,
timber, reed, clay, bird bones, animal horns, straw, stalks, tree leaves, etc.). A number
of them were instrumental in animal herding and their use was restricted only to the
period of active outdoor grazing.
Very popular were different whistles, made of natural materials, e.g. willow bark,
straw, clay etc.
The most basic ones produced only a few tones and were mainly made as toys for
children. The ones with several finger holes already allowed to perform the melody.
Reed pipe developed into the most popular Estonian wind instrument - the bagpipe.
This instrument spread in Estonia probably already in the 14th century. The first
written records date from the 16th century. Bagpipe has a windbag and pipes. Air
current was blown into the bag through a wooden cylinder. The melody was played on
a recorder (sõrmiline), a hollow cylinder with finger holes. Important elements were
drone or base pipes, which could number from one to three, and each had a reed
inside.
Bagpipes played at festivities, but also at other gatherings.
Herdsman's horns and trumpets (karjsasarv, karjapasun) were sounded in taking the
cattle grazing in the morning and returning home in the evening. The large herdsman's
trumpet (up to 2 metres in length) was his tool and boys were not allowed to touch it.
The first diatonic accordion (lõõtspill ‘bellow instrumnt’) was constructed in Berlin in
1822 (Germ Handharmonika, Ziehharmonika.). Accordion is played on the knees, it
had melody keys on one end and base on the other. A relatively small instrument
could play wide range melodies. Accordion became quickly very popular and spread
all over the world. There are some local types of diatonic accordion in Estonia, most
popular is Teppo lõõts or Estonian lõõts, called by a famous accordion master.
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Cordophones
Kannel is the oldest known instrument in Estonia. It is believed to have been around
for about 2000 years. Such an instrument is common to cultures of the Baltic Finns,
the Balts and the northwestern Russians. Kannel falls into three types:
 small kannel; usually hollowed out of one plank, with 6 to 7 strings,
 modern kannel, with a body made of boards and metal pegs holding about 20
to 30 strings (a type of zithar),
 harmony kannel, with strings grouped into major chords, used to provide the
harmony accompaniment.
Põispill (‘bladder instrument’ ~ bumbass), an instrument with one string has been
used as a joke at festivities.
Violin (viiul) reached Estonian towns in the 17th century, in the 18th century spread
among peasants. In the 19th century fiddle began to replace bagpipe playing, because
it was more suitable to accompany the more recent dances (quadrille, polka,
schottische, gallop, polka mazurka, waltz, etc.). It was not an easy instrument to
master and needed continuous practice. The general level was kept up by school and
choir singing, as in the 19th and early 20th centuries singing was mainly taught with
the help of violin. Schoolteachers got instruction also in violin playing. Folk fiddle
players usually made their own instruments, and applied a popular performance style
with improvisation and the use of open strings.
The spread of fiddle music developed also playing in groups: two fiddles, fiddle and
kannel, etc. Musicians could also sing by resting their instrument on the chest (instead
of the more recent position under the chin).
Bowed harp (hiiu kannel, Sw talharpa) reached Estonia probably through the Swedes
who settled in the islands and coastal areas. This instrument is rectangular or has a
fiddle-like body, with a rectangular frame on top that hold 3 to 4 strings made of
horsehair or sheep intestines. The instrument is placed on or between the knees and
played with an arrow-shaped bow.
Psalmodikon (in Estonian moldpill ‘trough instrument') is a relatively new instrument,
dating from 1829 in Sweden, constructed on the basis of monochord and hummel. It
has the shape of an overturned small trough, there is only one string with fingerboard
and note marks underneath, and it is played with a bow. The instrument spread widely
in Lutheran regions to accompany spiritual music, including also Estonian peasants. It
was easy to make and was used to teach and accompany choral singing at home, and
in smaller schools and church congregations who could not afford other instruments..
In the early 20th century also guitars and mandolins were spread.
Idiophones and membranophones are mainly rhythm instruments, the most popular
are jews harp and bench (or ash) instrument.
Many instruments (bagpipe, small kannel, bowed harp) have been successfully
revived and one can learn to play instruction camps, at various schools and in college.
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