1.
Western concert flute
–
The Western concert flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute, a musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, flute player, or fluter. This type of flute is used in ensembles including concert bands, military bands, marching bands, orchestras, flute ensembles. Other flutes in this include the piccolo, alto flute. A large repertory of works has been composed for flute, the flute is one of the oldest and most widely used wind instruments. The precursors of the concert flute were keyless wooden transverse flutes. These were later modified to include one and eight keys for chromatic notes. The most common pitch for keyless wooden traverse flutes is six-finger D, keyless traverse flutes continue to be used in folk music and in historically informed performances of Baroque music. Throughout the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, transverse flutes were very uncommon in Europe, the transverse flute arrived in Europe from Asia, via the Byzantine Empire, where it migrated to Germany and France. These flutes became known as German flutes, to them from others. The flute became used in music, along with the viol. It would not spread to the rest of Europe for nearly a century, the first literary appearance of the transverse flute was made in 1285, by Adenet le Roi in a list of instruments he played. After this, a period of 70 years ensues, where there are few references to the flute, beginning in the 1470s, a military revival in Europe led to a revival in the flute. The Swiss army used flutes for signaling, and this helped the spread to all of Europe. In the late 16th century, flutes began to appear in court and theatre music, following the 16th century court music, flutes began appearing in chamber ensembles. These flutes were used as the tenor voice. However, flutes varied greatly in size and range and this made transposition necessary, which led flutists to use Guidonian hexachords to transpose music more easily. At this stage, the flute was usually made in one section and had a cylindrical bore
Western concert flute
–
Flute
Western concert flute
–
(B3) C4–C7 (F7)
Western concert flute
–
A flute player playing a Western concert flute
Western concert flute
–
A modern copy of an 18th-century French traverso, by flute-maker Boaz Berney
2.
Champagne flute
–
A Champagne glass is a form of stemware designed specifically to enhance the pleasure of drinking champagne. The two most common forms are the flute and coupe, in each the stem allows the drinker to hold the glass without affecting the temperature of the drink, making them readily adaptable to consuming other sparkling wines and certain beers. The champagne flute is a glass with either a tall tapered conical shape or elongated slender bowl. Initially, the flute was tall, conical, and slender and this inward taper is designed to retain champagnes signature carbonation by reducing the surface area for it to escape. Nucleation in a champagne glass helps form the wines bubbles, too much surface area allows carbonation to fizzle out quickly, more bubbles create greater texture in the tasters mouth, and a flutes deep bowl allows for greater visual effect of bubbles rising to the top. The flutes narrow cross-section also minimizes the ratio, which enhances both the wines aroma and taste. While most commonly used for sparkling wines, flutes are used for certain beers, especially fruit beers and Belgian lambics. The flute shows off the color, and helps gather the aroma for the nose. The champagne flute is distinguished from the glass, which lacks a stem. The champagne coupe is a shallow, broad-bowled, saucer shaped stemmed glass generally capable of containing 4 to 8 US fl oz of liquid. The coupe was fashionable in France from its introduction in the 1700s until the 1970s, Champagne is also served in a tulip glass. The white wine tulip is distinguishable from the flute by its wider flared body. Some oenophiles prefer the tulip glass, as it permits the drinker to get more of the aroma than a flute while the mouth is still narrow enough to avoid quick loss of carbonation. The glass maker Riedel particularly criticizes flutes as one-dimensional, imparing drinkers’ ability to appreciate a wines full range of aromas, in the 1960s, double-wall stemware was developed to slow the transfer of heat from a drinkers hand to champagne and other beverages. Inner and outer walls are separated by a gap filled with air. Lets Bring Back, An Encyclopedia of Forgotten-Yet-Delightful Chic, Useful, Curious, knack Wine Basics, A Complete Illustrated Guide to Understanding, Selecting and Enjoying Wine. Dictionary of Glass, Materials and Techniques, the Wine Lovers Dessert Cookbook, Recipes and Pairings for the Perfect Glass of Wine. American Cocktail,50 Recipes That Celebrate the Craft of Mixing Drinks From Coast to Coast, michael Jacksons Great Beers of Belgium
Champagne flute
–
Champagne flute and bottle
Champagne flute
–
Champagne coupe
Champagne flute
–
Champagne tower
Champagne flute
–
Coupe and flutes
3.
Musical instruments
–
A musical instrument is an instrument created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument, the history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. Early musical instruments may have used for ritual, such as a trumpet to signal success on the hunt. Cultures eventually developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment, Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications. The date and origin of the first device considered an instrument is disputed. The oldest object that some refer to as a musical instrument. Some consensus dates early flutes to about 37,000 years ago, many early musical instruments were made from animal skins, bone, wood, and other non-durable materials. Musical instruments developed independently in many populated regions of the world, however, contact among civilizations caused rapid spread and adaptation of most instruments in places far from their origin. By the Middle Ages, instruments from Mesopotamia were in maritime Southeast Asia, development in the Americas occurred at a slower pace, but cultures of North, Central, and South America shared musical instruments. By 1400, musical instrument development slowed in areas and was dominated by the Occident. Musical instrument classification is a discipline in its own right, Instruments can be classified by their effective range, their material composition, their size, etc. However, the most common method, Hornbostel-Sachs, uses the means by which they produce sound. The academic study of instruments is called organology. Once humans moved from making sounds with their bodies—for example, by using objects to create music from sounds. Primitive instruments were designed to emulate natural sounds, and their purpose was ritual rather than entertainment. The concept of melody and the pursuit of musical composition were unknown to early players of musical instruments. A player sounding a flute to signal the start of a hunt does so without thought of the notion of making music. Musical instruments are constructed in an array of styles and shapes
Musical instruments
–
Anne Vallayer-Coster, Attributes of Music, 1770. This
still life painting depicts a variety of French Baroque musical instruments, such as a
natural horn,
transverse flute,
musette,
violin, and
lute.
Musical instruments
–
Found in
Slovenia, the
Divje Babe Flute is considered the world's
oldest known musical instrument
Musical instruments
–
Two
Aztec slit drums, called teponaztli. The characteristic " H " slits can be seen on the top of the drum in the foreground.
Musical instruments
–
Ancient Egyptian tomb painting depicting lute players,
18th Dynasty (c. 1350 BC)
4.
Woodwind instrument
–
Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the more general category of wind instruments. There are two types of woodwind instruments, flutes and reed instruments. What differentiates these instruments from other instruments is the way in which they produce their sound. Examples are a saxophone, a bassoon and a piccolo, flutes produce sound by directing a focused stream of air below the edge of a hole in a cylindrical tube. The flute family can be divided into two sub-families, open flutes and closed flutes, to produce a sound with an open flute, the player is required to blow a stream of air across a sharp edge that then splits the airstream. This split airstream then acts upon the air contained within the flutes hollow causing it to vibrate. Examples of open flutes are the flute, panpipes and shakuhachi. Ancient flutes of this variety were often made from sections of plants such as grasses, reeds. Later, flutes were made of such as tin, copper. Modern concert flutes are made of high-grade metal alloys, usually containing nickel, silver, copper. To produce a sound with a flute, the player is required to blow air into a duct. This duct acts as a channel bringing the air to a sharp edge, as with the open flutes, the air is then split, this causes the column of air within the closed flute to vibrate and produce sound. Examples of this type of include the recorder, ocarina. Reed instruments produce sound by focusing air into a mouthpiece which then causes a reed, or reeds, similar to flutes, Reed pipes are also further divided into two types, single reed and double reed. Single-reed woodwinds produce sound by placing a reed onto the opening of a mouthpiece, when air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed causes the air column in the instrument to vibrate and produce its unique sound. Single reed instruments include the clarinet, saxophone, and others such as the chalumeau, double-reed instruments use two precisely cut, small pieces of cane bound together at the base. This form of production has been estimated to have originated in the middle to late Neolithic period. The finished, bound reed is inserted into the instrument and vibrates as air is forced between the two pieces and this family of reed pipes is subdivided further into another two sub-families, exposed double reed, and capped double reed instruments
Woodwind instrument
–
Alto and
tenor saxophone reeds
Woodwind instrument
–
A piper playing the
bagpipes
5.
Piccolo
–
The piccolo /ˈpɪkəloʊ/ is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The modern piccolo has most of the same fingerings as its sibling, the standard transverse flute. This gave rise to the name ottavino, the name by which the instrument is referred to in the scores of Italian composers, piccolos are now manufactured in the key of C or D♭. It was for this D♭ piccolo that John Philip Sousa wrote the solo in the final repeat of the closing section of his march The Stars. In the orchestral setting, the player is often designated as piccolo/flute III. The larger orchestras have designated this position as a position due to the demands of the literature. Piccolos are often orchestrated to double the violins or the flutes, adding sparkle, in concert band settings, the piccolo is almost always used and a piccolo part is almost always available. Historically, the piccolo had no keys, and should not be confused with the fife, the piccolo is used in conjunction with marching drums in traditional formations at the Carnival of Basel, Switzerland. It is a myth that one of the earliest pieces to use the piccolo was Beethovens Symphony No.5 in C Minor, although neither Joseph Haydn nor Mozart used it in their symphonies, some of their contemporaries did, including Hoffmeister, Süssmayr and Michael Haydn. Also, Mozart used the piccolo in his opera Idomeneo, opera orchestras in Paris sometimes included small transverse flutes at the octave as early as 1735 as existing scores by Rameau show. Finely made piccolos are often available with a variety of similar to the flute. Most piccolos have a body with a cylindrical head, which is like the Baroque flute. There are a number of pieces for piccolo alone, by composers as Samuel Adler, Robert Dick, Michael Isaacson, David Loeb, Polly Moller, Vincent Persichetti. Additionally, there is a selection of chamber music that uses the piccolo. One example is the Quintet for Piccolo and String Quartet by Graham Waterhouse, another is Stockhausens Zungenspitzentanz, for piccolo and two euphoniums, with optional percussionist and dancer. Bryn Mawr, Theodore Presser Company,2008, the Symphonic Debutante Piccolo, Was it Really Beethovens Fifth. The Woodwind Fingering Guide, with piccolo fingerings
Piccolo
–
A Yamaha piccolo. The body is made of
ABS resin, and the head is plated with
silver.
Piccolo
–
The piccolo sounds one
octave higher than written. Sounding:
Piccolo
–
A piccolo being played
6.
Oboe
–
Oboes /ˈoʊboʊ/ OH-boh are a family of double reed woodwind musical instruments. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range, oboes are usually made of wood, but there are also oboes made of synthetic materials. A soprano oboe measures roughly 65 cm long, with keys, a conical bore. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed and vibrating a column of air, the distinctive oboe tone is versatile, and has been described as bright. When the term oboe is used alone, it is taken to mean the standard treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called a hautbois, hoboy. The spelling of oboe was adopted into English c.1770 from the Italian oboè, a musician who plays the oboe is called an oboist or simply an oboe player. In comparison to other woodwind instruments, the treble oboe is sometimes referred to as having a clear. The Sprightly Companion, a book published by Henry Playford in 1695, describes the oboe as Majestical and Stately. Humorously, the sound of the oboe is described in the play Angels in America as like that of a if the duck were a songbird. The rich timbre of the oboe is derived from its conical bore, as a result, oboes are readily audible over other instruments in large ensembles. The highest note of the oboe is a lower than the nominally highest note of the B♭ clarinet. Since the clarinet has a range of notes, the lowest note of the B♭ clarinet is significantly deeper than the lowest note of the oboe. Music for the oboe is written in concert pitch. Orchestras normally tune to a concert A played by the oboe, according to the League of American Orchestras, this is done because the pitch of the oboe is secure and its penetrating sound makes it ideal for tuning purposes. The pitch of the oboe is affected by the way in which the reed is made. The reed has a significant effect on the sound of the instrument, Variations in cane and other construction materials, the age of the reed, and differences in scrape and length all affect the pitch of the instrument. German and French reeds, for instance, differ in many ways, weather conditions such as temperature and humidity also affect the pitch
Oboe
–
A modern oboe with a reed
Oboe
–
Classical oboe, copy by Sand Dalton of an original by Johann Friedrich Floth, c. 1805
Oboe
–
The members of the oboe family from top:
heckelphone,
bass oboe,
cor anglais,
oboe d'amore, regular oboe, and
piccolo oboe
Oboe
–
Oboist
Albrecht Mayer preparing reeds for use. Most oboists scrape their own reeds to achieve the desired tone and response
7.
Cor anglais
–
The cor anglais or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, the cor anglais is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe. This means that music for the cor anglais is written a fifth higher than the instrument actually sounds. The fingering and playing technique used for the cor anglais are essentially the same as those of the oboe, the cor anglais normally lacks the lowest B♭ key found on most oboes and so its sounding range stretches from E3 below middle C to C6 two octaves above middle C. The pear-shaped bell of the cor anglais gives it a more covered timbre than the oboe, the cor anglais is perceived to have a more mellow and plaintive tone than the oboe. Its appearance differs from the oboe in that the reed is attached to a bent metal tube called the bocal, or crook. The cor anglais is usually notated in the treble clef, a fifth higher than sounding. Some composers notated it in the bass clef, when the register was persistently used. Alto clef written at sounding pitch is used, even by as late a composer as Sergei Prokofiev. In late-18th- and early-19th-century Italy, where the instrument was played by bassoonists instead of oboists. French operatic composers up to Fromental Halévy notated the instrument at sounding pitch in the mezzo-soprano clef, although the instrument usually descends only to low B♮, continental instruments with an extension to low B♭ have existed since early in the 19th century. Examples of works requiring this note include Arnold Schoenbergs Gurre-Lieder and Gustav Mahlers Das Lied von der Erde, antonín Dvořák, in his Scherzo Capriccioso, even writes for the cor anglais down to low A, though it seems unlikely that such an extension ever existed. Reeds used to play the cor anglais are similar to those used for an oboe, consisting of a piece of cane folded in two. While the cane on a reed is mounted on a small metal tube partially covered in cork, there is no such cork on a cor anglais reed. The cane part of the reed is wider and longer than that of the oboe, unlike American style oboe reeds, cor anglais reeds typically have wire at the base, approximately 5 mm from the top of the string used to attach the cane to the staple. This wire serves to hold the two blades of cane together and stabilize tone and pitch. Perhaps the best-known makers of modern cors anglais are the French firms of F. Lorée, Marigaux and Rigoutat, the British firm of T. W. Howarth, instruments from smaller makers, such as A. Laubin, are also sought after. Fox has recently made some instruments in plastic resin and in maple, the instrument originated in Silesia about 1720, when a bulb bell was fitted to a curved oboe da caccia-type body by the Weigel family of Breslau
Cor anglais
–
Cor anglais or English horn
Cor anglais
–
Opening motive from the 2nd movement (Largo) of
Dvořák 's
Symphony No. 9, From the New World
8.
Clarinet
–
The clarinet is a musical-instrument family belonging to the group known as the woodwind instruments. It has a mouthpiece, a straight cylindrical tube with an almost cylindrical bore. A person who plays a clarinet is called a clarinetist, the word clarinet may have entered the English language via the French clarinette, or from Provençal clarin, oboe. It would seem however that its roots are to be found amongst some of the various names for trumpets used around the renaissance. Clarion, clarin and the Italian clarino are all derived from the medieval term claro which referred to a form of trumpet. This is probably the origin of the Italian clarinetto, itself a diminutive of clarino, according to Johann Gottfried Walther, writing in 1732, the reason for the name is that it sounded from far off not unlike a trumpet. The English form clarinet is found as early as 1733, while the similarity in sound between the earliest clarinets and the trumpet may hold a clue to its name, other factors may have been involved. The trumpet parts that required this speciality were known by the term clarino, Johann Christoph Denner is generally believed to have invented the clarinet in Germany around the year 1700 by adding a register key to the earlier chalumeau. Over time, additional keywork and airtight pads were added to improve the tone and these days the most popular clarinet is the B♭ clarinet. However, the clarinet in A, just a lower, is commonly used in orchestral music. Since the middle of the 19th century the clarinet has become an essential addition to the orchestra. The clarinet family ranges from the BBB♭ octo-contrabass to the A♭ piccolo clarinet, the clarinet has proved to be an exceptionally flexible instrument, equally at home in the classical repertoire as in concert bands, military bands, marching bands, klezmer, and jazz. The cylindrical bore is primarily responsible for the clarinets distinctive timbre, the tone quality can vary greatly with the musician, the music, the instrument, the mouthpiece, and the reed. The most prominent were the German/Viennese traditions and the French school, the latter was centered on the clarinetists of the Conservatoire de Paris. The proliferation of recorded music has made examples of different styles of clarinet playing available, the modern clarinetist has a diverse palette of acceptable tone qualities to choose from. The A clarinet and B♭ clarinet have nearly the same bore, orchestral players using the A and B♭ instruments in the same concert could use the same mouthpiece for both. The A and the B♭ instruments have nearly identical tonal quality, the tone of the E♭ clarinet is brighter than that of the lower clarinets and can be heard even through loud orchestral or concert band textures. The bass clarinet has a deep, mellow sound, while the alto clarinet is similar in tone to the bass
Clarinet
–
Bass clarinet
Clarinet
–
Written range (though it is possible to play higher):
Clarinet
–
Sound wave propagation in the soprano clarinet
Clarinet
–
Schüller's quarter-tone clarinet
9.
Saxophone
–
The saxophone is a family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet, the saxophone family was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1840. He patented the saxophone on June 28,1846, in two groups of seven instruments each, each series consisted of instruments of various sizes in alternating transposition. The series pitched in B♭ and E♭, designed for bands, have proved extremely popular. The saxophone is used in music, military bands, marching bands. The saxophone was developed in 1846 by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrument maker, flautist, born in Dinant and originally based in Brussels, he moved to Paris in 1842 to establish his musical instrument business. Prior to his work on the saxophone, he had several improvements to the bass clarinet by improving its keywork and acoustics. Sax was also a maker of the ophicleide, a large conical brass instrument in the bass register with keys similar to a woodwind instrument. His experience with two instruments allowed him to develop the skills and technologies needed to make the first saxophones. As an outgrowth of his work improving the bass clarinet, Sax began developing an instrument with the projection of a brass instrument and he wanted it to overblow at the octave, unlike the clarinet, which rises in pitch by a twelfth when overblown. An instrument that overblows at the octave has identical fingering for both registers, Sax created an instrument with a single-reed mouthpiece like a clarinet, conical brass body like an ophicleide, and some acoustic properties of both the horn and the clarinet. Having constructed saxophones in several sizes in the early 1840s, Sax applied for, and received, the patent encompassed 14 versions of the fundamental design, split into two categories of seven instruments each, and ranging from sopranino to contrabass. Although the instruments transposed at either F or C have been considered orchestral, the C soprano saxophone was the only instrument to sound at concert pitch. Saxs patent expired in 1866, thereafter, numerous saxophonists and instrument manufacturers implemented their own improvements to the design, the first substantial modification was by a French manufacturer who extended the bell slightly and added an extra key to extend the range downwards by one semitone to B♭. It is suspected that Sax himself may have attempted this modification and this extension is now commonplace in almost all modern designs, along with other minor changes such as added keys for alternate fingerings. Using alternate fingerings allows a player to play faster and more easily, a player may also use alternate fingerings to bend the pitch. Some of the alternate fingerings are good for trilling, scales, a substantial advancement in saxophone keywork was the development of a method by which the left thumb operates both tone holes with a single octave key, which is now universal on modern saxophones. This enables a chromatic scale to be played two octaves simply by playing the diatonic scale combined with alternately raising and lowering this one digit
Saxophone
–
An alto saxophone in E ♭
Saxophone
–
Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone
Saxophone
–
A
military band saxophonist holding a
baritone saxophone
Saxophone
–
Straight saxophones, including common fully straight types and unusual variants with slightly curved bell. Clockwise from top left: an
E♭ baritone, a
B♭ tenor, a C soprano, a
B♭ soprano, and a
B♭ soprillo
10.
Bassoon
–
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor clefs, and occasionally the treble. Appearing in its form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band. The bassoon is an instrument known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, variety of character. Listeners often compare its warm, dark, reedy timbre to that of a baritone voice. Someone who plays the bassoon is called a bassoonist, the word bassoon comes from French basson and from Italian bassone. However, the Italian name for the instrument is fagotto. B♭1–C5 The range of the bassoon begins at B♭1 and extends upward over three octaves, roughly to the G above the treble staff, higher notes are possible but difficult to produce, and rarely called for, orchestral and concert band parts rarely go higher than C5 or D5. Even Stravinskys famously difficult opening solo in The Rite of Spring only ascends to D5, a1 is possible with a special extension to the instrument—see Extended techniques below. The bassoon disassembles into six pieces, including the reed. Bassoons are double reed instruments like the oboe and the English horn, a modern beginners bassoon is generally made of maple, with medium-hardness types such as sycamore maple and sugar maple preferred. Both bore and tone holes are precision-machined, and each instrument is finished by hand for proper tuning and this ensures coverage by the fingers of the average adult hand. Wooden instruments are lined with hard rubber along the interior of the wing and boot joints to prevent damage from moisture, the end of the bell is usually fitted with a ring, either of metal, plastic or ivory. The joints between sections consist of a tenon fitting into a socket, the tenons are wrapped in either cork or string as a seal against air leaks. The bocal connects the reed to the rest of the instrument and is inserted into a socket at the top of the wing joint, bocals come in many different lengths and styles, depending on the desired tuning and playing characteristics. Folded upon itself, the bassoon stands 1.34 m tall, there are also short-reach bassoons made for the benefit of young or petite players. The origins of the dulcian are obscure, but by the century it was available in as many as eight different sizes. Otherwise, dulcian technique was rather primitive, with eight finger holes, the dulcian came to be known as fagotto in Italy. However, the etymology that equates fagotto with bundle of sticks is somewhat misleading
Bassoon
–
Two views of a Renard model 220 bassoon
Bassoon
–
Dulcians and
racketts, from the Syntagma musicum by
Michael Praetorius.
Bassoon
–
Heckel system bassoon from 1870
Bassoon
–
Edgar Degas, L'Orchestre de L'Opera, (1868)
11.
Contrabassoon
–
The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or bass bassoon is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its cousin, with a few notable differences. The reed is considerably larger than the bassoons, at 65–75 mm in length as compared to 53–58 mm for most bassoon reeds. The large blades allow ample vibration that produces the low register of the instrument, the contrabassoon reed is similar to an average bassoons in that scraping the reed affects both the intonation and response of the instrument. The fingering of the contrabassoon is slightly different than that of the bassoon, particularly at the register change and in the extreme high range. The instrument is twice as long, curves around on itself twice, additional support is sometimes given by a strap around the players neck. A wider hand position is required, as the primary finger keys are widely spaced. The contrabassoon has a key to expel condensation and a tuning slide for gross pitch adjustments. The instrument comes in a few pieces, some models cannot be disassembled without a screwdriver, sometimes, however, the bell can be detached, and instruments with a low A extension often come in two parts. The contrabassoon is a very deep sounding woodwind instrument that plays in the same register as the tuba. It has a range beginning at B♭0 and extending up three octaves and a major third to D4. Donald Erb and Kalevi Aho write even higher in their concertos for the instrument, the instrument is notated an octave above sounding pitch in bass clef, with tenor or even treble clef called for in high passages. Tonally, it sounds much like the bassoon except for an organ pedal quality in the lowest octave of its range which provides a solid underpinning to the orchestra or concert band. The lowest range, in comparison with the bassoon, can be played quieter than the bassoon can, while prominent in solo and small ensemble situations, the sound can be completely obscured in the volume of the full orchestra or concert band. The contrabassoon was developed, especially in England, in the century, the oldest surviving instrument. It was around that time that the contrabassoon began gaining acceptance in church music, however, until the late 19th century, the instrument typically had a weak tone and poor intonation. For more than a century, between 1880 and 2000, Heckel’s design remained relatively unchanged, chip Owen at the American company, Fox, began manufacturing an instrument in 1971 with some improvements. Generally, during the 20th century changes to the instrument were limited to an upper vent key near the socket, a tuning slide
Contrabassoon
–
Contrabassoon
Contrabassoon
–
Written pitch, sounds one
octave lower Sounding pitch
12.
Bagpipes
–
Bagpipes are a wind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The term bagpipe is equally correct in the singular or plural, though pipers usually refer to the bagpipes as the pipes, a set of bagpipes minimally consists of an air supply, a bag, a chanter, and usually at least one drone. Many bagpipes have more than one drone in various combinations, held in place in stocks—sockets that fasten the various pipes to the bag, the most common method of supplying air to the bag is through blowing into a blowpipe, or blowstick. In some pipes the player must cover the tip of the blowpipe with their tongue while inhaling, an innovation, dating from the 16th or 17th century, is the use of a bellows to supply air. In these pipes, sometimes called cauld wind pipes, air is not heated or moistened by the players breathing, the bag is an airtight reservoir that holds air and regulates its flow via arm pressure, allowing the player to maintain continuous even sound. The player keeps the bag inflated by blowing air into it through a blowpipe or pumping air into it with a bellows, materials used for bags vary widely, but the most common are the skins of local animals such as goats, dogs, sheep, and cows. More recently, bags made of materials including Gore-Tex have become much more common. A drawback of the bag is the potential for fungal spores to colonise the bag because of a reduction in necessary cleaning. An advantage of a bag is that they have a zip which allows the user to fit a more effective moisture trap to the inside of the bag. Bags cut from larger materials are usually saddle-stitched with an extra strip folded over the seam, holes are then cut to accommodate the stocks. The chanter is the pipe, played with two hands. Almost all bagpipes have at least one chanter, some pipes have two chanters, particularly those in North Africa, the Balkans in Southern Europe, and Southwest Asia. A chanter can be bored internally so that the walls are parallel for its full length. The chanter is usually open-ended, so there is no way for the player to stop the pipe from sounding. Thus most bagpipes share a constant, legato sound where there are no rests in the music, primarily because of this inability to stop playing, technical movements are used to break up notes and to create the illusion of articulation and accents. Because of their importance, these embellishments are often highly technical systems specific to each bagpipe, a few bagpipes have closed ends or stop the end on the players leg, so that when the player closes the chanter becomes silent. A practice chanter is a chanter without bag or drones, allowing a player to practice the instrument quietly, the term chanter is derived from the Latin cantare, or to sing, much like the modern French word chanteur. The note from the chanter is produced by a reed installed at its top, the reed may be a single or double reed
Bagpipes
–
Angel playing bagpipes in the
Thistle Chapel, Edinburgh
Bagpipes
–
A detail from the
Cantigas de Santa Maria showing bagpipes with one chanter and a parallel drone (Spain, 13th century).
Bagpipes
–
A detail from a painting by
Hieronymus Bosch showing two bagpipers (15th century).
Bagpipes
–
A Great Highland Bagpipe practice chanter
13.
Recorder (musical instrument)
–
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument in the group known as internal duct flutes—flutes with a whistle mouthpiece. It is distinguished from other duct flutes by having a thumb-hole for the hand and seven finger-holes. It is the most prominent duct flute in the classical tradition. Recorders are made in different sizes with compasses corresponding to different vocal ranges, the sizes most commonly in use today are the soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Recorders are traditionally constructed from wood and ivory, although the use of plastics is now common, other characteristics of their construction, such as bore profile and fingering systems, have varied over time and between instruments. The recorder is first documented in the Middle Ages, and continued to enjoy popularity in the renaissance and baroque periods. It was revived in the 20th century as part of the historically informed performance movement, today, there are many professional recorder players who demonstrate the instruments full solo range and a large community of amateurs. The sound of the recorder is described as clear and sweet. It is notable for its response and its corresponding ability to produce a wide variety of articulations. This ability, coupled with its open finger holes, allow it to produce a variety of tone colors. Acoustically, its tone is relatively pure and odd harmonics predominate in its sound, the instrument has been known by its modern English name at least since the 14th century. David Lasocki reports the earliest use of recorder in the accounts of the Earl of Derby in 1388. By the 15th century, the name had appeared in English literature, the instrument name recorder derives from the Latin recordārī, by way of Middle French recorder and MFr recordeur, itself derived from MFr recorder. Thus, the recorder cannot have been named after the sound of birds, the name of the instrument is also uniquely English, in Middle French there is no equivalent noun sense of recorder referring to a musical instrument. Partridge indicates that the use of the instrument by jongleurs led to its association with the verb, recorder the minstrels action, the reason we know this instrument as the recorder and not one of the other instruments played by the jongleurs is uncertain. Until about 1695, the recorder and flute overlapped, but from 1673 to the late 1720s in England. Until at least 1765, some still used flute to mean recorder. Until the mid 18th century, musical scores written in Italian refer to the instrument as flauto and this distinction, like the English switch from recorder to flute, has caused confusion among modern editors, writers and performers
Recorder (musical instrument)
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Various recorders (second from the bottom disassembled into its three parts)
Recorder (musical instrument)
–
Recorder with German fingering. Note that the 4th finger-hole is larger than the 5th.
Recorder (musical instrument)
–
How the fingers and holes are numbered
Recorder (musical instrument)
14.
Garklein recorder
–
The garklein recorder in C, also known as the sopranissimo, is the smallest size of the recorder family. The name garklein is German for quite small, and is sometimes used to describe the sopranino in G. Although some modern German makers use the single-word form Garkleinflötlein, this is historical precedent. Double holes for the two lowest notes are uncommon, the instrument is usually notated in the treble clef two octaves lower than its actual sound. The garklein recorder is only about 16 to 18 cm long and is different from larger recorders in that it is made in one piece due to its size. Praetorius says it is three to four Brunswick inches long. Praetoriuss descriptive expression is the source of the name given by modern makers to their recorders in C6. Today, Monteverdis instrument is generally assumed to be the sopranino in G5, the smallest true recorder described by Praetorius, adding to the confusion, however, he also uses the expression klein flöttlein for the one-handed zuffolo. The earliest-known example of a recorder in C6 is an ivory instrument by a Nuremberg maker identified by the mark M. In comparison to larger recorders, the fingering is relatively difficult because of the very tight hole spacing, woodwind Instruments and Their History, third edition, with a foreword by Sir Adrian Boult. This edition reissued, Mineola, New York, Dover Publications,1991, and reprinted again in 2012. Griscom, Richard W. and David Lasocki, the Recorder, A Research and Information Guide, third edition. Syntagma Musicum II, Parts 1 and 2 of De Organographia by Michael Praetorius, the Galpin Society Journal 41, 142–44. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. Wolfenbüttel, Elias Holwein, in Verlegung des Autoris, klangfarbe und Instrumentation, Geschichte, Ursachen, Wirkung. Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, zugleich ein Polyglossar für das gesamtr Instrumentengebiet, aspekte zur Geschichte der Blockflöte in c´´´
Garklein recorder
–
A one-piece garklein recorder in plum wood, next to a three-piece soprano recorder in castello or zapatero "boxwood" for comparison.
15.
Soprano recorder
–
The soprano recorder in c2, also known as the descant, is the third-smallest instrument of the modern recorder family and is usually played as the highest voice in four-part ensembles. Since its finger spacing is relatively small, it is used in music education for children first learning to play an instrument. The soprano recorder is an octave above the level of the soprano voice. Its lowest note is c2, the range is c2–d4. Compositions for soprano recorder are usually notated an octave lower than they sound and its timbre is similar to the sound of the flue pipes of an organ, which is why some organ stops sound similar to a recorder. These registers are called then block-flute or forest-flute, in German fingering the note F5 is playable with a simpler fingering than the Baroque techniques forked fingering. However, German fingering has been described as a step backwards, made on the false assumption that the instrument would be easier for schoolchildren. The disadvantage is that other, unavoidable cross-fingerings become more difficult, recorders with a plastic head joint or made completely of plastic are widely used. Soprano recorders are made from woods such as maple, pear, boxwood, rosewood, olive, African blackwood, rosewood. Woodwind Instruments and Their History, third edition, with a foreword by Sir Adrian Boult and this edition reissued, Mineola, New York, Dover Publications, Inc. 1991, and reprinted again in 2012, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. Wolfenbüttel, Elias Holwein, in Verlegung des Autoris, real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, zugleich ein Polyglossar für das gesamte Instrumentengebiet
Soprano recorder
–
A three-part soprano recorder in castello or zapatero "boxwood".
16.
Alto recorder
–
The alto recorder in F, also known as a treble is a member of the recorder family. Up until the 17th century the instrument was normally in G4 instead of F4. The alto is between the soprano and tenor in size, and is intermediate in pitch. It has the general shape as a soprano, but is approximately 50% larger in all dimensions. A 50% increase in length causes a 50% increase in the wavelength for a given fingering and this lowers the pitch by a perfect fifth, that is from C to F. The F alto is an instrument, though its basic scale is in F, that is, a fifth lower than the soprano recorder. So-called F fingerings are therefore used, as with the bassoon or the low register of the clarinet and its notation is usually at sounding pitch, but sometimes is written an octave lower than it sounds. For adult hands, the recorder is easy to play. Maintenance is the same as for the soprano recorder, recorders are known to have been made in different sizes since at least the 15th century, but a consistent terminology did not exist until the 20th-century revival of the instrument. Appropriate to the highest instrument of the set, it is given a name used for the highest vocal part in music from time, discant. At this time, recorders were made in a single piece and this type of instrument continued to be produced through the 17th century and into the early 18th, though around 1650 it began to be made in three separate parts. It was sometimes called the flauto italiano, particularly after about 1670 when a new type of recorder appeared in France, called flûte douce, what today would be called an alto in F. In contrast to the bright-toned flauto italiano, which was easy to play in the register, the flüte douce was full and resonant in the low register. This new version of recorder was first made in Paris and, shortly later and under French influence, the redesign is traditionally attributed to the Hotteterres, particularly to Jean Hotteterre, though the evidence is rather tenuous. In 1696, Johann Christoph Denner and Johann Schell applied for permission to make the French type of instrument in Nuremberg, in most languages, this was the instrument meant by the word for flute alone, German Flöte, Dutch fluyt, Italian flauto, Spanish flauta. In England, it was usually simply flute, but when necessary to differentiate from the flute or other sizes of recorder. Woodwind Instruments and Their History, third edition, with a foreword by Sir Adrian Boult and this edition reissued, Mineola, New York, Dover Publications, Inc. 1991, and reprinted again in 2012, facsimile reprint, Collezione di trattati e musiche antiche edite in fac-simile
Alto recorder
–
A modern three-piece alto recorder in
olive wood, next to a modern three-piece soprano recorder in castello or zapatero "boxwood" for comparison.
17.
Bass recorder
–
A bass recorder is a wind instrument in F3 that belongs to the family of recorders. The bass recorder plays an octave lower than the alto or treble recorder, in the recorder family it stands in between the tenor recorder and C great-bass recorder. Due to the length of the instrument, the lowest tone, F, on modern instruments, keys may also be provided for low F♯, G, and G♯, and sometimes for C and C♯ as well. Praetorius calls the instrument a bass, and the instrument an octave lower than the basset a Großbaß. Woodwind Instruments and Their History, third edition, with a foreword by Sir Adrian Boult and this edition reissued, Mineola, New York, Dover Publications, Inc. 1991, and reprinted again in 2012, griscom, Richard W. and David Lasocki. The Recorder, A Research and Information Guide, third edition, syntagma Musicum II, Parts 1 and 2 of De Organographia by Michael Praetorius, David Z. Crookes. The Galpin Society Journal 41, 142–44, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. Wolfenbüttel, Elias Holwein, in Verlegung des Autoris, real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, zugleich ein Polyglossar für das gesamte Instrumentengebiet
Bass recorder
–
Recorders from
Michael Praetorius 's
Syntagma Musicum (1619), the fourth and fifth from the left show front and back view of an F bass (basset)
18.
Great bass recorder
–
The great bass recorder is a member of the recorder family. The great bass recorder has up to seven keys, which serve to facilitate access to the finger holes, for modern large bass recorders woods like maple or African Bubinga are used. The prefixes great and contra refer to the registers from C to B and from ͵C to ͵B, respectively, in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg are two famous great bass recorders. Both are of the Renaissance type, despite the fact that the instrument of Hieronymus F. Kynseker is provided on the piece with high baroque ornaments. This recorder is part of a set that is made of plum wood. For larger recorders pear wood is used, for reasons of cost. The great bass recorder requires a key for the bottom note, an S-shaped bocal or crook is used to make it somewhat more comfortable to play the instrument. Because the finger holes are not covered with keys, some of the holes are placed in acoustically unfavorable locations to accommodate the hand. The relatively large finger-span distance reduces fluency of playing, as an authentic instrument, the great bass recorder has a short history of about 100 to 120 years. The instrument is described in the Syntagma Musicum of Michael Praetorius. The earliest great bass recorder is probably that in the collection of Venetian Catajo Palace and it is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The Kynseker instrument from the Germanisches Nationalmuseum is both the highpoint and the endpoing of development and it is possible that it was already conceived as historicizing. Woodwind Instruments and Their History, third edition, with a foreword by Sir Adrian Boult and this edition reissued, Mineola, New York, Dover Publications, Inc. 1991, and reprinted again in 2012, griscom, Richard W. and David Lasocki. The Recorder, A Research and Information Guide, third edition, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. Wolfenbüttel, Elias Holwein, in Verlegung des Autoris, real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, zugleich ein Polyglossar für das gesamte Instrumentengebiet
Great bass recorder
–
Recorders from
Michael Praetorius 's
Syntagma Musicum (1619): great bass in F (contrabass, two views) at the left, quint bass (great bass) in B ♭, bass (basset, two views), etc.
19.
Contrabass recorder
–
The contrabass or great bass recorder is a wind instrument in F2 that belongs to the family of recorders. The contrabass recorder plays an octave lower than the bass recorder. Until recently, it was the largest instrument in the family, but since 1975 has been exceeded by the sub-great bass recorder in C2. Due to the length of the instrument, the lowest tone, F, on modern instruments, keys may also be provided for low F♯, G, and G♯, and sometimes for C and C♯ as well. Occasionally, this size of instrument may be equipped with so-called diapason keys, praetorius calls the next-lower instrument a bass, and the instrument an octave lower than the basset a Großbaß, great or large bass. However, the contrabass is sometimes used for the next-larger size. The modern notation for this instrument is usually in the bass clef at sounding pitch, woodwind Instruments and Their History, third edition, with a foreword by Sir Adrian Boult. This edition reissued, Mineola, New York, Dover Publications,1991, and reprinted again in 2012. Griscom, Richard W. and David Lasocki, the Recorder, A Research and Information Guide, third edition. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, wolfenbüttel, Elias Holwein, in Verlegung des Autoris. Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, zugleich ein Polyglossar für das gesamte Instrumentengebiet
Contrabass recorder
–
Recorders from
Michael Praetorius 's
Syntagma Musicum (1619), with front and back views of the contrabass ("great bass") recorder at the left
20.
Brass Instruments
–
A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the players lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones, literally meaning lip-vibrated instruments, there are several factors involved in producing different pitches on a brass instrument. The view of most scholars is that the brass instrument should be defined by the way the sound is made, as above. Thus one finds brass instruments made of wood, like the alphorn, the cornett, the serpent, as valved instruments are predominant among the brasses today, a more thorough discussion of their workings can be found below. The valves are usually piston valves, but can be rotary valves, slide brass instruments use a slide to change the length of tubing. The main instruments in this category are the family, though valve trombones are occasionally used. The trombone familys ancestor, the sackbut, and the folk instrument bazooka are also in the slide family, there are two other families that have, in general, become functionally obsolete for practical purposes. Instruments of both types, however, are used for period-instrument performances of Baroque or Classical pieces. In more modern compositions, they are used for their intonation or tone color. Natural brass instruments only play notes in the harmonic series. These include the bugle and older variants of the trumpet and horn, the trumpet was a natural brass instrument prior to about 1795, and the horn before about 1820. In the 18th century, makers developed interchangeable crooks of different lengths, natural instruments are still played for period performances and some ceremonial functions, and are occasionally found in more modern scores, such as those by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Keyed or Fingered brass instruments used holes along the body of the instrument and these included the cornett, serpent, ophicleide, keyed bugle and keyed trumpet. They are more difficult to play than valved instruments, Brass instruments may also be characterised by two generalizations about geometry of the bore, that is, the tubing between the mouthpiece and the flaring of the tubing into the bell. Those two generalizations are with regard to the degree of taper or conicity of the bore and the diameter of the bore with respect to its length, cylindrical bore brass instruments are generally perceived as having a brighter, more penetrating tone quality compared to conical bore brass instruments. The trumpet, baritone horn and all trombones are cylindrical bore, in particular, the slide design of the trombone necessitates this. Conical bore brass instruments are those in which tubing of constantly increasing diameter predominates, conical bore instruments are generally perceived as having a more mellow tone quality than the cylindrical bore brass instruments. The British brass band group of instruments fall into this category and this includes the flugelhorn, cornet, tenor horn, horn, euphonium and tuba
Brass Instruments
–
A
trumpet, foreground, a
piccolo trumpet behind, and a
flugelhorn in background
21.
Trumpet
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A trumpet is a musical instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group contains the instruments with the highest register in the brass family, trumpets are used in art music styles, for instance in orchestras, concert bands, and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular music. They are played by blowing air through almost-closed lips, producing a sound that starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. Since the late 15th century they have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, there are many distinct types of trumpet, with the most common being pitched in B♭, having a tubing length of about 1.48 m. Early trumpets did not provide means to change the length of tubing, most trumpets have valves of the piston type, while some have the rotary type. The use of rotary-valved trumpets is more common in orchestral settings, each valve, when engaged, increases the length of tubing, lowering the pitch of the instrument. A musician who plays the trumpet is called a trumpet player or trumpeter, the earliest trumpets date back to 1500 BC and earlier. The bronze and silver trumpets from Tutankhamuns grave in Egypt, bronze lurs from Scandinavia, trumpets from the Oxus civilization of Central Asia have decorated swellings in the middle, yet are made out of one sheet of metal, which is considered a technical wonder. The Shofar, made from a ram horn and the Hatzotzeroth and they were played in Solomons Temple around 3000 years ago. They were said to be used to blow down the walls of Jericho and they are still used on certain religious days. The Salpinx was a straight trumpet 62 inches long, made of bone or bronze, Salpinx contests were a part of the original Olympic Games. The Moche people of ancient Peru depicted trumpets in their art going back to AD300, the earliest trumpets were signaling instruments used for military or religious purposes, rather than music in the modern sense, and the modern bugle continues this signaling tradition. Improvements to instrument design and metal making in the late Middle Ages, the natural trumpets of this era consisted of a single coiled tube without valves and therefore could only produce the notes of a single overtone series. Changing keys required the player to change crooks of the instrument, the development of the upper, clarino register by specialist trumpeters—notably Cesare Bendinelli—would lend itself well to the Baroque era, also known as the Golden Age of the natural trumpet. During this period, a vast body of music was written for virtuoso trumpeters, the art was revived in the mid-20th century and natural trumpet playing is again a thriving art around the world. The melody-dominated homophony of the classical and romantic periods relegated the trumpet to a role by most major composers owing to the limitations of the natural trumpet. Berlioz wrote in 1844, Notwithstanding the real loftiness and distinguished nature of its quality of tone, there are few instruments that have been more degraded. The attempt to give the trumpet more chromatic freedom in its range saw the development of the keyed trumpet, the symphonies of Mozart, Beethoven, and as late as Brahms, were still played on natural trumpets
Trumpet
–
B ♭ trumpet
Trumpet
–
Written range:
Trumpet
–
Ceramic trumpet. 300 AD
Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru.
Trumpet
–
Reproduction
baroque trumpet by Michael Laird
22.
Trombone
–
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the players vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate, nearly all trombones have a telescoping slide mechanism that varies the length of the instrument to change the pitch. Many modern trombone models also utilize a rotary valve as a means to lower pitch of the instrument, variants such as the valve trombone and superbone have three valves like those on the trumpet. The word trombone derives from Italian tromba and -one, so the name means large trumpet, the trombone has a predominantly cylindrical bore like its valved counterpart the baritone and in contrast to its conical valved counterparts, the euphonium and the horn. The most frequently encountered trombones are the trombone and bass trombone. The most common variant, the tenor, is an instrument pitched in B♭, an octave below the B♭ trumpet. A person who plays the trombone is called a trombonist or trombone player, the trombone is a predominantly cylindrical tube bent into an elongated S shape. Rather than being completely cylindrical from end to end, the tube is a series of tapers with the smallest at the mouthpiece receiver. The design of these affects the intonation of the instrument. As with other instruments, sound is produced by blowing air through pursed lips producing a vibration that creates a standing wave in the instrument. The detachable cup-shaped mouthpiece is similar to that of the baritone horn and it has the venturi, a small constriction of the air column that adds resistance greatly affecting the tone of the instrument, and is inserted into the mouthpiece receiver in the slide section. The slide section consists of a leadpipe, the inner and outer tubes. Modern stays are soldered, while sackbuts were made with loose, the slide, the most distinctive feature of the trombone, allows the player to extend the length of the air column, lowering the pitch. To prevent friction from slowing the action of the slide, additional sleeves were developed during the Renaissance, and this part of the slide must be lubricated frequently. Additional tubing connects the slide to the bell of the instrument through a neckpipe, for example, second position A is not in exactly the same place on the slide as second position E. Many types of trombone also include one or more rotary valves used to increase the length of the instrument by directing the air flow through additional tubing. This allows the instrument to reach notes that are not possible without the valve as well as play other notes in alternate positions. Like the trumpet, the trombone is considered a cylindrical bore instrument since it has sections of tubing, principally in the slide section
Trombone
–
A tenor trombone
Trombone
–
A disassembled trombone. From left to right: mouthpiece, outer slide, bell section, inner slide.
Trombone
–
A tenor trombone mouthpiece
Trombone
–
The trombone section of the Eau Claire Municipal Band is featured at a Fourth of July celebration in Owen Park.
23.
Cornet
–
The cornet /ˈkɔːrnɪt/ is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is an instrument in B♭, though there is also a soprano cornet in E♭. Both are unrelated to the renaissance and early baroque cornett, the cornet was initially derived from the post horn around 1820 in France. Among the first manufacturers of modern cornets was Parisian Jean Asté in 1828, cornets first appeared as separate instrumental parts in 19th century French compositions. This instrument could not have developed without the improvement of piston valves by Silesian oboe player Friedrich Blühmel. These two instrument makers almost simultaneously invented valves, though it is likely that Blühmel was the inventor and they jointly applied for a patent and were granted this for a period of ten years. Later, and most importantly, François Périnet received a patent in 1838 for a valve which is the basis of all modern brass instrument piston valves. Up until the early 20th century, the trumpet and cornet coexisted in musical ensembles, symphonic repertoire often involves separate parts for trumpet and cornet. As several instrument builders made improvements to instruments, they started to look and sound more alike. The modern day cornet is used in bands, concert bands. The name cornet derives from corne, meaning horn, itself from Latin cornu, while not musically related, instruments of the Zink family are named cornetto or cornett in modern English to distinguish them from the valved cornet described here. The 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica referred to serpents as old wooden cornets, the Roman/Etruscan cornu is the lingual ancestor of these. It is a predecessor of the post horn from which the evolved and was used like a bugle to signal orders on the battlefield. The instrument was once referred to as a cornopean, referencing the earliest cornets with the Stölzel valve system. The cornet was invented by adding valves to the post horn in 1814, the valves allowed for melodic playing throughout the register of the cornet. Trumpets were slower to adopt the new technology, so for the next 100 years or more. The trumpet would play fanfare-like passages, while the cornet played more melodic passages, the modern trumpet has valves that allow it to play the same notes and fingerings as the cornet. Cornets and trumpets made in a key play at the same pitch
Cornet
–
A B ♭ cornet
Cornet
–
Connie Jones playing a long-model cornet.
Cornet
–
Cornet that looks like a
French horn
24.
Alto horn
–
The tenor horn is a brass instrument in the saxhorn family, and is usually pitched in E♭. It has a bore that is conical, like the flugelhorn and baritone horn. It is most commonly used in British brass bands, whereas the French horn tends to take the parts in concert bands. However, the horn has occasionally been used as an alternative to the French horn in concert bands. The tenor horn is a brass instrument which has a predominantly conical bore like the baritone horn and flugelhorn. It uses a deep funnel- or cup-shaped mouthpiece and its valves are typically, though not exclusively, piston valves. In contrast, the solo horn looks like a flugelhorn, with the bell pointing forward. Another older and lesser known variant has the bell facing backward, still another variant has a detachable bell easily rotated to point in the direction of the players choice. The standard bell-up horn comes in two shapes, one with the beginning of the bell looping over the top of the valves. These types are the most frequently encountered in the United States, only the standard upright instrument is seen in UK brass bands. In Europe, Cerveny have been manufacturing tenor horns since 1852 and they currently offer models of the instrument looped like a classic horn and an oval model shaped like a Wagner tuba, all models having rotary valves as opposed to the more common piston valves. Within a British brass band, the horn section usually plays a unique part in the middle of the band. However, it is often featured as a solo instrument. The instruments timbre, with little attack or resonance, as well as the parts it usually plays, makes the difficult to hear individually. Despite this, the horn section contributes greatly to the mellow sound of a brass band. A few of these instruments have become especially popular within the UK, the Besson Sovereign. Today, different makes of tenor horns have a range of bore sizes. Good, well-made instruments should however, regardless of size, retain a light, velvety
Alto horn
–
Alto horn
25.
Baritone horn
–
The baritone horn, or sometimes just called baritone, is a low-pitched brass instrument in the saxhorn family. It is a brass instrument with a bore that is mostly conical, like the flugelhorn and alto horn. It uses a cup mouthpiece like that of its peers. Like the trombone and the euphonium, the horn can be considered either a transposing or non-transposing instrument. In the UK, the horn is frequently found in brass bands. In concert band music, there is often a part marked baritone, a person who plays a baritone horn is a baritone player or baritonist. The baritone, like the trombone and euphonium, is a brass tube. It is predominately of conical bore, like the euphonium, but has a narrow bore than the euphonium. The smaller bore renders its attack more distinct than the attack of the euphonium. The baritone is pitched in concert B♭, meaning that when no valves are actuated, music for the baritone horn can be written in either the bass clef or the treble clef. When written in the bass clef, the horn is a non-transposing instrument. It is often used to play parts written for the similarly pitched tenor trombone or euphonium, the baritone is part of the tenor section of a band. Its second partial with no valves pressed is concert B♭ on the line from the bottom of the bass clef. The eighth partial with no valves pressed is concert B♭ in the center of the treble clef, the baritone sounds with a timbre between the brightness of the trombone and the more mellow tone of the euphonium. The baritone horn usually has a wrap and a smaller bell, and is thus smaller and lighter overall. This practice has not yet stopped, there is a common misconception that three-valve instrument is a baritone and that the four-valve instrument is a euphonium. Euphoniums often have a valve as an alternate fingering for 1&3 split fingering with improved intonation. The fourth valve can also be viewed in the way as an F trigger on trombone
Baritone horn
–
Baritone horn
Baritone horn
–
Four-valve continental baritone horn (center)
Baritone horn
–
Marching baritone horn
26.
Flugelhorn
–
The flugelhorn is a brass instrument pitched in B♭, and resembles a trumpet, but has a wider, conical bore. The instrument known today as the flugelhorn is a descendant of the valved bugle, the valved bugle provided Adolphe Sax with the inspiration for his B♭ soprano saxhorns, on which the modern-day flugelhorn is modeled. The German word Flügel translates into English as wing or flank, the flugelhorn is built in the same B♭ pitch as many trumpets and cornets. It usually has three valves and employs the same fingering system as other brass instruments, but four-piston valve. It can thus be played too much trouble by trumpet and cornet players. It is usually played with a more deeply conical mouthpiece than either trumpets or cornets, some modern flugelhorns feature a fourth valve that lowers the pitch a perfect fourth. This adds a low range that, coupled with the flugelhorns dark sound. More often, however, players use the valve in place of the first and third valve combination. A pair of bass flugelhorns in C, called fiscorns, are played in the Catalan cobla bands which provide music for sardana dancers, the tone is fatter and usually regarded as more mellow and dark than the trumpet or cornet. The sound of the flugelhorn has been described as halfway between a trumpet and a French horn, whereas the sound is halfway between a trumpet and a flugelhorn. The flugelhorn is as agile as the cornet but more difficult to control in the high register and it is not generally used for aggressive or bright displays as trumpets and cornets often are, but tends more towards a softer and more reflective role. The flugelhorn is a member of the British-style brass band. It also appears occasionally in orchestral and concert band music, famous orchestral works with flugelhorn include Igor Stravinskys Threni, Ralph Vaughan Williamss Ninth Symphony, Danzon no.2 by Arturo Marquez, and Michael Tippetts third symphony. The flugelhorn is sometimes substituted for the post horn in Mahlers Third Symphony, in HK Grubers trumpet concerto Busking the soloist is directed to play a flugelhorn in the slow middle movement. The flugelhorn figured prominently in many of Burt Bacharachs 1960s pop song arrangements and it is featured in a solo role in Bert Kaempferts 1962 recording of That Happy Feeling. Flugelhorns have occasionally used as the alto or low soprano voice in a drum. The flugelhorns in these orchestras are pitched in B-flat, with sporadically an E-flat soloïst, due to bad intonation these E-flat flugelhorns are mostly being replaced by the E-flat trumpet or cornet. Joe Bishop, as a member of the Woody Herman band in 1936, was one of the earliest jazz musicians to use the flugelhorn, shorty Rogers and Kenny Baker began playing it in the early fifties, and Clark Terry used it in Duke Ellingtons orchestra in the mid-1950s
Flugelhorn
–
A standard 3-valved B♭ flugelhorn
Flugelhorn
–
A rotary valve B ♭ flugelhorn
27.
Mellophone
–
The mellophone is a three-valved brass instrument pitched in the key of F or E♭. It has a bore, like that of the euphonium. Tuning is done solely by adjusting the piping, instead of adjusting both piping and hand position as on the French horn, fingerings for the mellophone are the same as fingerings for the trumpet, alto horn, and most valved brass instruments. Owing to its use primarily outside of music, there is little solo literature for the mellophone, other than that used within drum. The present-day mellophone has three valves, operated with the right hand, mellophone fingering is the same as the trumpet and is typically pitched lower, in the key of F or E♭. The overtone series of the F mellophone is an octave above that of the F horn, the tubing length of a mellophone is the same as that of the F-alto single horn or the F-alto branch of a triple horn or double-descant horn. The direction of the bell as well as the amount of tubing make the mellophone look like a large trumpet. The mellophone uses the same mouthpiece as the horn, which is in-between the size of a trombone. This mouthpiece usually has a cup, like that of the flugelhorn. These mouthpieces give the mellophone a dark, round sound, some trumpet players who double on mellophone use a trumpet-style parabolic mouthpiece on the instrument, resulting in a much brighter, more trumpet-like sound. Horn players doubling on mellophone use a smaller, lighter, conical mouthpiece, as used on French horns. Two instruments carry the name mellophone, Traditional mellophones with a rear or sideways facing bell, the marching mellophone, with a forward-facing bell. In general, the mellophone has its origin in the horn design boom of the 19th century. The earliest version was the Koenig horn, based on a design by its eponym Herman Koenig, but manufactured by Antoine Courtois, Courtois had just won the right to manufacture the saxhorn, in a lawsuit against the inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax. This shape was influenced by the post horn. Kohler & Son originally began using the name mellophone for its line of horns based loosely on similar instruments by Distin. These were also post horn-like instruments with valves, but the mouthpieces and bell angle were slowly evolving to allow for more projection, the traditional instrument is visually modeled on the horn, with a round shape and a rear-facing bell. Unlike French horns, it is played with the hand
Mellophone
–
Mellophone
Mellophone
–
University of Massachusetts Lowell Riverhawk Marching Band member playing a mellophone
Mellophone
–
The type of Mellophonium used by
Stan Kenton 's orchestra, which variously used mellophone mouthpieces and a specially designed horn-trumpet hybrid mouthpiece for Stan Kenton's band.
Mellophone
–
A Vincent Bach Mercedes F Marching Mellophone
28.
Euphonium
–
The euphonium is a large, conical-bore, baritone-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word εὔφωνος euphōnos, meaning well-sounding or sweet-voiced. The euphonium is an instrument, nearly all current models are piston valved. The euphonium is an instrument known for its distinctive tone color. A person who plays the euphonium is sometimes called a euphoniumist, euphophonist, or a euphonist, while British players often colloquially refer to themselves as euphists, similarly, the instrument itself is often referred to as eupho or euph. The euphonium is part of the family of brass instruments and it is sometimes confused with the baritone horn. The two instruments are easily interchangeable to the player, with modification of breath and embouchure. The cylindrical baritone offers a brighter sound and the conical euphonium offers a mellower sound, several late 19th century music catalogs sold a euphonium-like instrument called the B♭ bass. In these catalog drawings, the B♭ Bass had thicker tubing than the baritone, along the same lines, drum and bugle corps introduced the Bass-baritone, and distinguished it from the baritone. The thicker tubing of the three-valve B♭ bass allowed for production of strong false-tones, ferdinand Sommers original name for the instrument was the euphonion. It is sometimes called the tenor tuba in B♭, although this can refer to other varieties of tuba. Names in other languages, as included in scores, can be ambiguous as well and they include French basse, saxhorn basse, and tuba basse, German Baryton, Tenorbass, and Tenorbasshorn, Italian baritono, bombardino, eufonio, and flicorno basso. The most common German name, Baryton, may also have caused the American use of the term baritone for the instrument with the influx of German musicians to the United States in the nineteenth century. As a baritone-voiced brass instrument, the euphonium traces its ancestry to the ophicleide, the search for a satisfactory foundational wind instrument that could support masses of sound above it took some time. With the invention of the valve system c. 1818, the construction of instruments with an even sound. While Saxs family of saxhorns were invented at about the same time, the euphonium, like the tenor trombone, is pitched in concert B♭. For a valved brass instrument like the euphonium, this means that when no valves are in use the instrument will produce partials of the B♭ harmonic series. It is generally orchestrated as an instrument like the trombone
Euphonium
–
Euphonium
Euphonium
–
The
serpent, the oldest ancestor of all low brass instruments
Euphonium
–
A euphonium (L) and tuba (R), the two lowest conical-bore instruments
Euphonium
–
King marching euphonium
29.
Helicon (instrument)
–
The helicon is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Most are B♭ basses, but they commonly exist in E♭, F. The sousaphone is a version of the helicon. The first sousaphone, a prototype made by J. W. Pepper & Son, Inc. had an upright bell. Both the sousaphone and helicon have circular shapes and are designed to be worn on the shoulder, the instrument is very popular in Central and Eastern Europe and is a common choice for military fanfares. It is used by Ed Neuhauser of the folk band Bellowhead. The range of the B♭ Helicon is two octaves below that of a B♭ cornet, the helicon is derived from the saxhorn, or the saxtuba. Helicons were first used in the 1860s for use in Cavalry Bands, then later used in Military marching bands
Helicon (instrument)
–
Helicon
Helicon (instrument)
–
Two musicians playing helicons.
Helicon (instrument)
–
Philip Timms with his E flat bass Helicon in 1909
30.
Tuba
–
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced by moving air past the lips and it first appeared in the mid 19th-century, making it one of the newer instruments in the modern orchestra and concert band. The tuba largely replaced the ophicleide, in America a person who plays the tuba is known as a tubaist or tubist. In the United Kingdom a person who plays the tuba in an orchestra is simply as a tuba player. Prussian Patent No.19 was granted to Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht, the original Wieprecht and Moritz instrument used five valves of the Berlinerpumpen type that were the forerunners of the modern piston valve. The first tenor tuba was invented in 1838 by Carl Wilhelm Moritz, the addition of valves made it possible to play low in the harmonic series of the instrument and still have a complete selection of notes. Prior to the invention of valves, brass instruments were limited to notes in the harmonic series, harmonics starting three octaves above the fundamental pitch are about a whole step apart, making a useful variety of notes possible. The ophicleide used a brass instrument mouthpiece but employed keys. Another forerunner to the tuba was the serpent, an instrument that was shaped in a wavy form to make the tone holes accessible to the player. Tone holes changed the pitch by providing an intentional leak in the bugle of the instrument, while this changed the pitch, it also had a pronounced effect on the timbre. By using valves to adjust the length of the bugle the tuba produced a tone that eventually led to its popularity. Adolphe Sax, like Wieprecht, was interested in marketing systems of instruments from soprano to bass, the instruments developed by Sax were generally pitched in E♭ and B♭, while the Wieprecht basstuba and the subsequent Cerveny contrabass tuba were pitched in F and C. Saxs instruments gained dominance in France, and later in Britain and America, as a result of the popularity and movements of instrument makers such as Gustave Auguste Besson and Henry Distin. Afterwards there have many other various types of the Tuba including some with different types of valves different numbers. An orchestra usually has a single tuba, though an additional tuba may be asked for and it serves as the bass of the orchestral brass section and it can reinforce the bass voices of the strings and woodwinds. It provides the bass of brass quintets and choirs and it is the principal bass instrument in concert bands, brass bands and military bands, and those ensembles generally have two to four tubas. It is also a solo instrument, tubas are used in marching bands, drum and bugle corps and in many jazz bands. In British style brass bands, two E♭ and two B♭ tubas are used and are referred to as basses, tubas are found in various pitches, most commonly in F, E♭, C, or B♭
Tuba
–
Tuba section in a
British style brass band
Tuba
Tuba
–
Comparison of euphonium (left) and tuba (right)
Tuba
–
Tuba with four rotary valves
31.
French horn
–
The French horn is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B♭ is the horn most often used by players in professional orchestras, a musician who plays any kind of horn is generally referred to as a horn player. Most horns have lever-operated rotary valves, but some, especially older horns, use piston valves, the backward-facing orientation of the bell relates to the perceived desirability to create a subdued sound, in concert situations, in contrast to the more piercing quality of the trumpet. A horn without valves is known as a horn, changing pitch along the natural harmonics of the instrument. Pitch may also be controlled by the position of the hand in the bell, the pitch of any note can easily be raised or lowered by adjusting the hand position in the bell. Three valves control the flow of air in the single horn, the more common double horn has a fourth valve, usually operated by the thumb, which routes the air to one set of tubing tuned to F or another tuned to B♭. Triple horns with five valves are made, tuned in F, B♭. Also common are descant doubles, which typically provide B♭ and alto F branches and this configuration provides a high-range horn while avoiding the additional complexity and weight of a triple. A crucial element in playing the horn deals with the mouthpiece, when playing higher notes, the majority of players exert a small degree of additional pressure on the lips using the mouthpiece. It is the goal of all serious brass musicians to develop their technique such that additional mouthpiece pressure is avoided altogether, or at the very least, the name French horn is found only in English, first coming into use in the late 17th century. At that time, French makers were preeminent in the manufacture of hunting horns, as a result, these instruments were often called, even in English, by their French names, trompe de chasse or cor de chasse. The International Horn Society has recommended since 1971 that the instrument be simply called the horn, there is also a more specific use of French horn to describe a particular horn type, differentiated from the German horn and Vienna horn. In this sense, French horn refers to an instrument with three Périnet valves. It retains the narrow bell-throat and mouthpipe crooks of the orchestral hand horn of the late 18th century, and most often has an ascending third valve. This is a whole-tone valve arranged so that with the valve in the up position the valve loop is engaged, the horn is the third-highest-sounding instrument in the brass family, below the trumpet and the cornet. Horns are mostly tuned in B♭ or F, or a combination of both, in some traditions, novice players use a single horn in F, while others prefer the B♭ horn. The F horn is used more commonly than the B♭ horn, sound is produced by vibrating the players lips into the mouthpiece of the instrument. Different partials in the series can be played by adjusting the air pressure and lip tension
French horn
–
A hunting horn on the insignia of the Danish "Huntsmen Corps" (Jægerkorpset)
French horn
–
Vienna horn
French horn
–
The
valves of a
Conn 6D double horn. The 3 lever keys (above the large valves) can be depressed toward the large outer tube. The thumb key (near the left-most valve) moves inward toward the 3 finger keys.
French horn
–
A natural horn has no valves, but can be tuned to a different key by inserting different tubing, as during a rest period.
32.
String instrument
–
String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum—and others by hitting the strings with a wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow. In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord or piano, with bowed instruments, the player rubs the strings with a horsehair bow, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy, the musician operates a wheel that rubs the strings. Bowed instruments include the string instruments of the Classical music orchestra. All of the string instruments can also be plucked with the fingers. Some types of string instrument are mainly plucked, such as the harp, in the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, string instruments are called chordophones. Other examples include the sitar, rebab, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, in most string instruments, the vibrations are transmitted to the body of the instrument, which often incorporates some sort of hollow or enclosed area. The body of the instrument also vibrates, along with the air inside it, the vibration of the body of the instrument and the enclosed hollow or chamber make the vibration of the string more audible to the performer and audience. The body of most string instruments is hollow, some, however—such as electric guitar and other instruments that rely on electronic amplification—may have a solid wood body. Archaeological digs have identified some of the earliest stringed instruments in Ancient Mesopotamian sites, like the lyres of Ur, the development of lyre instruments required the technology to create a tuning mechanism to tighten and loosen the string tension. During the medieval era, instrument development varied from country to country, Middle Eastern rebecs represented breakthroughs in terms of shape and strings, with a half a pear shape using three strings. Early versions of the violin and fiddle, by comparison, emerged in Europe through instruments such as the gittern, a four stringed precursor to the guitar and these instruments typically used catgut and other materials, including silk, for their strings. String instrument design refined during the Renaissance and into the Baroque period of musical history, violins and guitars became more consistent in design, and were roughly similar to what we use in the 2000s. At the same time, the 19th century guitar became more associated with six string models. In big bands of the 1920s, the guitar played backing chords. The development of guitar amplifiers, which contained a power amplifier, the development of the electric guitar provided guitarists with an instrument that was built to connect to guitar amplifiers. Electric guitars have magnetic pickups, volume control knobs and an output jack, in the 1960s, larger, more powerful guitar amplifiers were developed, called stacks
String instrument
–
Various stringed instruments of Chinese make on display in a shop.
String instrument
–
Viol, fidel and rebec (from left to right) on display at Amakusa Korejiyokan in Amakusa, Kumamoto, Japan
String instrument
–
Various string instruments on display at the
Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City.
String instrument
–
The strings of a
piano
33.
Banhu
–
The banhu is a Chinese traditional bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. It is used primarily in northern China, ban means a piece of wood and hu is short for huqin. Like the more familiar erhu and gaohu, the banhu has two strings, is held vertically, and the bow passes in between the two strings. The banhu is sometimes also called banghu, because it is used in bangzi opera of northern China. The yehu, another type of Chinese fiddle with a coconut body, banhu MP3s Huqin Yehu Music of China Traditional Chinese musical instruments Rebab String instruments
Banhu
–
A Banhu
34.
Baryton
–
The baryton is a bowed string instrument similar to the viol, but distinguished by an extra set of plucked strings. It was in use in Europe until the end of the 18th century. The baryton can be viewed as a sort of augmented bass viol and it is similar in size to the latter instrument and likewise has six or seven strings of gut, arranged over a fretted fingerboard and played with a bow. The instrument is held vertically and is supported by the players legs, the baryton differs from the bass viol in having an additional set of wire strings. As can be seen in the illustration, the strings are placed on the right. The plucked strings are on the left, they are reachable by the thumb from the rear. Of the repertoire for this instrument, the best known works are the 175 compositions written by Joseph Haydn for his patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, of these,126 are trios for viola, cello and baryton. They were written in the part of Haydns career, from 1762 to 1775. There are only about 50 historical barytons for which we have evidence, many of the latter have been modified from their original form. Thus, tracing the history of the baryton is a difficult task, early evidence for the existence of the baryton is found in Marin Mersennes work Cogitata Physico-Mathematica. According for Fruchtman, Mersenne stated that the English constructed a viol or lyre much admired by King James, the instrument had six bowed strings as well as metal strings behind the neck. The thumb of the left hand plucked the strings, which were made to sound with the bowed notes. If this information is accurate, the baryton must have known in England before 1625. The earliest baryton that survives today dates from 1647, it was made by Magnus Feldlen in Vienna and is currently in the instrument collection of the Royal College of Music in London. In London a performance at Marylebone Gardens was announced in 1744, Mr Ferrand was to perform on the Pariton, the instrument was never particularly popular, but it acquired a certain cachet in courtly circles, particularly in south Germany and Austria. The Haydn-era baryton was different from earlier versions in a crucial respect and this helped the baryton to stand out from the other instruments in the baryton trio, the primary form in which Haydn wrote. Since the Haydn oeuvre tends to dominate the field today, the Haydn-type tuning has become the standard. The baryton was completely neglected in the century, but in the twentieth, with the rise of the authentic performance movement in classical music, new barytons were built
Baryton
–
A copy of Prince Esterhazy's baryton, on display at his palace in
Eisenstadt.
Baryton
–
A six-stringed baryton
Baryton
–
Christoph Urbanetz holding a baryton (Daniel Achatius Stadlmann, 1732) from the estate of Joseph Haydn, now owned by the
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna (more images in Commons)
35.
Bowed psaltery
–
The bowed psaltery is a type of psaltery or zither that is played with a bow. In contrast with the centuries-old plucked psaltery, the bowed psaltery appears to be a 20th-century invention and these are usually called violin zithers. These instruments are not typically referred to as psalteries, but by the trade names they were sold under. Today, the bowed psaltery is most often produced without chord accompaniment strings, the conventional bowed psaltery is triangular in shape, allowing each string to extend a little farther than the one before it, so that each can be individually bowed. Chromatic bowed psalteries have the sharps and flats on one side and it is a psaltery in the traditional sense of a wooden soundbox with unstopped strings over the soundboard. It significantly differs from the Medieval plucked psaltery only in that its strings are arranged to permit bowing, the soundboard has a soundhole or rose in the center. In the United States, it is played with a small bow, often made in the earlier semicircular style. Some players will hold two bows in one hand to facilitate double-stopping. Besides bowing, the instrument may also be strummed or struck for additional tone colors, the strings are often too closely spaced for conventional finger picking, but may be plucked at the bowing end. Video Introduction to the Bowed Psaltery by James Jones Psaltery Strings Online community of bowed psaltery players featuring photos, videos, listings, build A Bowed Psaltery - online construction plans. A Psimple Psaltery Building a bowed psaltery from start to finish, fretless Zithers, Bowed Instruments Online collection of early to mid-20th-century American bowed psaltery variants. Ukelin. com a site covering early 20th-century American bowed psalteries Ringing Strings Bowed Psalteries Basic Instruction on how to play the bowed psaltery with video examples, free plans for a Diatonic Bowed Psaltery Online plans. Learn to play Learn to play
Bowed psaltery
–
Bowed psaltery
36.
Cello
–
The cello or violoncello is a bowed or plucked string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. The strings from low to high are generally tuned to C2, G2, D3 and A3 and it is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin and viola and the double bass. The cello is used as a musical instrument, as well as in chamber music ensembles, string orchestras, as a member of the string section of symphony orchestras. It is the second-largest and second lowest bowed string instrument in the symphony orchestra. Cello parts are written in the bass clef, but both tenor clef and treble clefs are used for higher-range parts, both in orchestral/chamber music parts and in solo cello works. A person who plays the cello is called a cellist or violoncellist, in a small Classical ensemble, such as a string quartet, the cello typically plays the bass part, the lowest-pitched musical line of the piece. In orchestra, in Baroque era and Classical music period, the cello plays the bass part. In Baroque era music, the cello is used to play the basso continuo bassline, in a Baroque performance, the cello player might be joined by other bass instruments, playing double bass, viol or other low-register instruments. The name cello is a contraction of the Italian violoncello, which means little violone, in modern symphony orchestras, it is the second largest stringed instrument. Thus, the name contained both the augmentative -one and the diminutive -cello. By the turn of the 20th century, it had become common to shorten the name to cello and it is now customary to use cello without apostrophe as the full designation. Viol is derived from the viola, which was derived from Medieval Latin vitula. Cellos are tuned in fifths, starting with C2, followed by G2, D3 and it is tuned in the same intervals as the viola, but an octave lower. Unlike the violin or viola but similar to the double bass, the cello is most closely associated with European classical music, and has been described as the closest sounding instrument to the human voice. The instrument is a part of the orchestra, as part of the string section. A large number of concertos and sonatas have been written for the cello, among the most well-known Baroque works for the cello are Johann Sebastian Bachs six unaccompanied Suites. The Prelude from the First Suite is particularly famous, romantic era repertoire includes the Robert Schumann Concerto, the Antonín Dvořák Concerto as well as the two sonatas and the Double Concerto by Johannes Brahms. The cello is increasingly common in traditional music, especially Scottish fiddle music
Cello
–
Cello close-up
Cello
–
Cello, front and side view. The endpin at the bottom is retracted or removed for easier storage and transportation, and adjusted for height in accordance to the player.
Cello
–
A baroque cello strung with gut strings. Note the absence of fine-tuning pins on the tailpiece.
Cello
–
The cello section of the Orchestra of the Munich University of Applied Sciences is shown here.
37.
Crwth
–
Four examples have survived and are to be found in St Fagans National History Museum Cardiff, National Museum Wales Aberystwyth, Warrington Museum & Art Gallery and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Other Celtic words for violin also have meanings referring to rounded appearances, in Gaelic, for example, cruit can mean hump or hunch as well as harp or violin. Like several other English loanwords from Welsh, the name is one of the few words in the English language in which the letter W is used as a vowel, the traditional English name is crowd, and the variants crwd, crout and crouth are little-used today. In Medieval Latin it is called the chorus or crotta, the Welsh word crythor means a performer on the crwth. The Irish word is cruit, although it also was used on occasion to designate certain small harps, the English surnames Crewther, Crowder, Crother and Crowther denote a player of the crowd, as do the Scottish names MacWhirter and MacWhorter. In this article crwth denotes the modern, or most recent, a variety of string instruments so designated are thought to have been played in Wales since at least Roman times. Continuous, clear records of the use of crwth to denote an instrument of the lyre class date from the 11th century, Medieval instruments somewhat resembling the crwth appear in pictures as far back as the 11th century, shortly after bowing was first known in the West. In Wales, the crwth long took second place to the harp in the musical hierarchy, the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica mentioned the crwth in an article about transition of instruments from the lyre to plucked and bowed instruments. The crwth consists of a simple box construction with a flat, fretless fingerboard and six gut strings. The original report of that tuning, from which most subsequent others appear to draw their information, jones also states that the tuning procedure began by tightening the highest string as much as possible without breaking it, subsequently tuning the others to it intervalically. Such was not a practice in the days before standardized pitch and was, in fact. A second tuning, reported by William Bingley, features the drones tuned in octaves, traditionally the soundbox, or resonator, and a surmounting yoke in the shape of an inverted U, were carved as a single unit from a block of maple or sycamore. The soundboard, or belly, a piece, was most often made of deal or some other soft wood. Two soundholes, or circular openings about an inch to an inch, the two G strings ran parallel to the fingerboard, but not over it, so those strings were used as fixed-pitch drones which could be plucked by the players left thumb. The remaining strings, which were tightened and loosened with metal harp wrest-pins, one characteristic feature of the crwth is that one leg of the bridge goes through a soundhole and rests on the back of the instrument. Since that piece is flat, unbraced, and usually made of soft wood, all surviving pictures of crwth players show a playing position with the lower end of the crwth braced against the chest, supported with a strap around the players neck. The sound of the crwth was described by medieval poet Gruffydd ap Dafydd ap Hywel as in the hand a hundred voices, a three-stringed version also existed which required less skill and was played by minstrels. Its sound that goes well with the timbres of the harp, for all its technical limitations, the crwth has great charm, and is much more than a historical curiosity
Crwth
–
Crwth
Crwth
–
Crwth being played by Cass Meurig, using a neck strap
38.
Double bass
–
The double bass, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. It is an instrument and is typically notated one octave higher than sounding to avoid excessive ledger lines below the staff. The double bass is the modern bowed string instrument that is tuned in fourths, rather than fifths, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2. The instruments exact lineage is still a matter of some debate, the double bass is a standard member of the orchestras string section, as well as the concert band, and is featured in concertos, solo and chamber music in Western classical music. The bass is used in a range of genres, such as jazz, 1950s-style blues and rock and roll, rockabilly, psychobilly, traditional country music, bluegrass, tango. The double bass is played either with a bow or by plucking the strings, in orchestral repertoire and tango music, both arco and pizzicato are employed. In jazz, blues, and rockabilly, pizzicato is the norm, Classical music uses just the natural sound produced acoustically by the instrument, so does traditional bluegrass. In jazz, blues, and related genres, the bass is typically amplified with an amplifier and speaker, the double bass stands around 180 cm from scroll to endpin. However, other sizes are available, such as a 1⁄2 or 3⁄4 and these sizes do not reflect the size relative to a full size, or 4⁄4 bass, a 1⁄2 bass is not half the size of a bass but is only slightly smaller. It is typically constructed from several types of wood, including maple for the back, spruce for the top and it is uncertain whether the instrument is a descendant of the viola da gamba or of the violin, but it is traditionally aligned with the violin family. While the double bass is nearly identical in construction to other violin family instruments, like other violin and viol-family string instruments, the double bass is played either with a bow or by plucking the strings. In orchestral repertoire and tango music, both arco and pizzicato are employed, in jazz, blues, and rockabilly, pizzicato is the norm, except for some solos and also occasional written parts in modern jazz that call for bowing. In classical pedagogy, almost all of the focus is on performing with the bow and producing a good bowed tone, some of these articulations can be combined, for example, the combination of sul ponticello and tremolo can produce eerie, ghostly sounds. Classical bass players do play pizzicato parts in orchestra, but these parts generally require simple notes, vibrato is used to add expression to string playing. In general, very loud, low-register passages are played with little or no vibrato, mid- and higher-register melodies are typically played with more vibrato. The speed and intensity of the vibrato is varied by the performer for an emotional and musical effect, in jazz, rockabilly and other related genres, much or all of the focus is on playing pizzicato. In jazz and jump blues, bassists are required to play extremely rapid pizzicato walking basslines for extended periods, as well, jazz and rockabilly bassists develop virtuoso pizzicato techniques that enable them to play rapid solos that incorporate fast-moving triplet and sixteenth note figures. In jazz and related styles, bassists often add semi-percussive ghost notes into basslines, to add to the rhythmic feel and to add fills to a bassline
Double bass
–
Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French-style bow
Double bass
–
Jazz bassist Ron Carter pictured playing with his Quartet at "Altes Pfandhaus" in Cologne
Double bass
–
Example of a Busetto-shaped double bass: Copy of a Matthias Klotz (1700) by Rumano Solano
Double bass
–
Principal parts of the double bass
39.
Erhu
–
It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular of the family of traditional bowed string instruments used by various ethnic groups of China. A very versatile instrument, the erhu is used in traditional and contemporary music arrangements, such as in pop, rock, jazz, etc. The Erhu can be traced back to instruments introduced to China more than a thousand years ago. It is believed to have evolved from the Xiqin, the xiqin is believed to have originated from the Xi people of Central Asia, and have come to China in the 10th century. The first Chinese character of the name of the instrument is believed to come from the fact that it has two strings, an alternate explanation states that it comes from the fact that it is the second highest huqin in pitch to the gaohu in the modern Chinese orchestra. The second character indicates that it is a member of the Huqin family, as soon as the horsehair bow was invented, it spread very widely. The Erhu consists of a long vertical stick-like neck, at the top of which are two tuning pegs, and at the bottom is a small resonator body which is covered with python skin on the front end. The Erhu has some unusual features, first is that its characteristic sound is produced through the vibration of the python skin by bowing. Second, there is no fingerboard, the stops the strings by pressing their fingertips onto the strings without the strings touching the neck. Third, the hair bow is never separated from the strings. Lastly, although there are two strings, they are close to each other and the players left hand in effect plays as if on one string. The inside string is tuned to D4 and the outside string to A4. The maximum range of the instrument is three and a half octaves, from D4 up to A7, before a stopping finger reaches the part of the string in contact with the bow hair, the usual playing range is about two and a half octaves. Various dense and heavy hardwoods are used in making the Erhu, according to Chinese references the woods include zi tan, Lao hong mu, wu mu, and hong mu. Particularly fine Erhus are often made pieces of old furniture. A typical erhu measures 81 cm from top to bottom, the length of the bow also being 81 cm, the parts of the Erhu, Qín tong, sound box or resonator body, it is hexagonal, octagonal, or, less commonly, round. Qín pí/She pí, skin, made from python, the python skin gives the erhu its characteristic sound
Erhu
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Picture showing qianjin, a loop of string which acts as a
nut.
Erhu
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Erhu with liu jiao qin tong (six-sided body).
Erhu
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A blind street performer playing in
Jingzhou, Hubei, China, 2006
Erhu
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One
yueqin and two erhu players.
40.
Esraj
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The Dilruba is a Sikh string instrument found in two forms throughout the Indian subcontinent. It is a relatively young instrument, being only about 300 years old, the Dilruba is found in North India, primarily Punjab, where it is used in Sikh music and Hindustani classical compositions. The Esraj is a variant of the Dilruba, differing slightly in structure. The Dilruba and its variant, the Esraj, had been declining in popularity for many decades, by the 1980s, the instrument was nearly extinct. However with the influence of the Gurmat Sangeet movement, the instrument has been once again attracting considerable attention. The Dilruba was created some 300 years ago by the 10th Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh, who based it on the much older Taus, the Dilruba was then produced to replace the previously heavy instrument, the Taus. This attempt was intended to scale down the Taus into what is now known to be the Dilruba, making it convenient for the Khalsa. Additionally, the Esraj is a modern variant of the Dilruba that was made. It has been adopted into Rabindra Sangeet by musicians from Bengal. The Dilruba and its variant, the Esraj, have a similar yet distinct construction style and this neck holds on a long wooden rack of 12–15 sympathetic strings. While the Dilruba has more strings and a differently shaped body than the Esraj. The soundboard is a piece of goatskin similar to what is found on a sarangi. Sometimes the instrument has a gourd affixed to the top for balance or for tone enhancement and it is played with a bow, with the other hand moving along the strings above the frets. The player may slide the note up or down to achieve the portamento, or meend, characteristic of Indian music
Esraj
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Woman playing the dilruba
Esraj
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Dilruba detail
Esraj
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A
Sikh boy playing the dilruba
Esraj
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Percussion
41.
Fiddle
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Fiddle is another name for the bowed string musical instrument more often called a violin. It is also a term for the instrument used by players in all genres. Fiddle playing, or fiddling, refers to various styles of music, Fiddle is also a common term among musicians who play folk music on the violin. The fiddle is part of traditional styles of music which are aural traditions. There are few distinctions between violins and fiddles, though more primitively constructed and smaller violins are more likely to be considered fiddles. In order to produce a tone, compared to the deeper tones of gut or synthetic core strings. Among musical styles, fiddling tends to produce rhythms focused on dancing, with associated quick note changes, whereas classical music tends to contain more vibrato and it is less common for a classically trained violinist to play folk music, but today, many fiddlers have classical training. The medieval fiddle emerged in 10th-century Europe, deriving from the Byzantine lira, lira spread widely westward to Europe, in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments. During the Renaissance the gambas were important and elegant instruments, they eventually lost ground to the viola da braccio family. The etymology of fiddle is uncertain, the Germanic fiddle may derive from the same early Romance word as does violin, the name seems however to be related to Icelandic Fiðla and also Old English fiðele. A native Germanic ancestor of fiddle may even be the ancestor of the early Romance form of violin, historically, fiddle also referred to a predecessor of todays violin. Like the violin, it tended to have four strings, another family of instruments that contributed to the development of the modern fiddle are the viols, which are held between the legs and played vertically, and have fretted fingerboards. Violins, on the hand, are commonly grouped in sections. The difference was likely compounded by the different sounds expected of violin music, historically, the majority of fiddle music was dance music, while violin music had either grown out of dance music or was something else entirely. Violin music came to value a smoothness that fiddling, with its dance-driven clear beat, in situations that required greater volume, a fiddler could push their instrument harder than could a violinist. In the very late 20th century, a few artists have attempted a reconstruction of the Scottish tradition of violin and big fiddle. Notable recorded examples include Iain Fraser and Christine Hanson, Amelia Kaminski and Christine Hansons Bonnie Lasses and Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas Fire and Grace. In Hungary, a three stringed viola variant with a bridge, called the kontra or háromhúros brácsa makes up part of a traditional rhythm section in Hungarian folk music
Fiddle
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A fiddler
Fiddle
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Peter Stampfel from the Holy Modal Rounders
Fiddle
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Fiddler Kenny Baker.
42.
Gaohu
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The gaohu is a Chinese bowed string instrument developed from the erhu in the 1920s by the musician and composer Lü Wencheng and used in Cantonese music and Cantonese opera. It belongs to the family of instruments, together with the zhonghu, erhu, banhu, jinghu. It is the instrument of Cantonese music and opera ensembles. Well known pieces for the gaohu include Bu Bu Gao and Ping Hu Qiu Yue, the gaohu is similar in construction to the erhu but has a slightly smaller soundbox, commonly circular, and is tuned a fourth higher, to G4 and D5. Whereas most huqin are placed on top of the left thigh and it has a brighter and lighter tone as compared to the erhu. It has two strings and its soundbox is covered on the front end with snakeskin, strad, Vol.110, Issue 1312 Zhao, Y. et al. Science China, Vol.53, No.7 Huang, Rijin Guangdong Yinyue, Gaohu Qu Xuan
Gaohu
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Gaohu, traditional Guangdong type, with dragon head, round body, no base, and played with the body held between the knees
43.
Ghaychak
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Ghaychak, Gheychak or ghijak is the name of several bowed instruments of Asia. A double-chambered bowl lute with 4 or more strings and a short fretless neck. It is used by Iranians and Baloch people, and is similar to Sarinda, the soundbox is carved out of a single piece of wood. The upper orifice is partly covered in the middle by the handle, a spike lute, either with a bowl soundbox, or with a box soundbox often made from a tin can, with three or four metal strings. It is used by Afghans, Uzbeks, Uyghurs, Tajiks, Turkmens, archived from the original on 2006-12-06. Ghaychak Afghan gaychak Tajik ghijak (box lute
Ghaychak
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Ghaychak
Ghaychak
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Ghijak
44.
Gudok
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The gudok or hudok is an ancient Eastern Slavic string musical instrument, played with a bow. A gudok usually had three strings, two of them tuned in unison and played as a drone, the third tuned a fifth higher, all three strings were in the same plane at the bridge, so that a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. Sometimes the gudok also had several sympathetic strings under the sounding board and these made the gudoks sound warm and rich. The player held the gudok on his lap, like a cello or viola da gamba and it was also possible to play the gudok while standing and even while dancing, which made it popular among skomorokhs. Initially in the 12th century, the gudok did not have a neck for pressing strings and this suggests that it was played by stopping the strings from the side with fingernails, rather than pressing strings onto the instruments neck. Later in the 14th century some modifications of the gudok had a neck for pressing strings. Russian gudok ceased to exist as an instrument for several centuries. All present instruments are replicas, based on parts of gudoks found in the Novgorod excavations. There have been attempts to revive the gudok in music. Borodins opera Prince Igor contains a Gudok Players Song, which is a reconstruction of how the gudok may have sounded. The Ukrainian hudok contained a drone tuned to a similar to that of the Ukrainian lira. In Western Ukraine, particularly in the Carpathian mountains the term hudok is also used for folk violins, gadulka - a related Bulgarian instrument Site with large photo of 12th century gudok or rebec. Gudok at the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, - Musical instruments // Wood Use in Medieval Novgorod. Edited by Mark Brisbane and Jon Hather, oxbow Books and the authors,2007. - Thirteenth century fiddles from excavations in Pskov and their investigation, stabilization and reconstruction // Proceedings of the 4-th IGOM Group on Wet Organic Archaeological Materials Conference. Edited by Per Hoffmann Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum
Gudok
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A 12th century
lyra or
rebec or gudok, found in Novgarod.
Gudok
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Impression of the ancient Russian Gudok
Gudok
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Ukrainian hudok.
45.
Gusle
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The gusle is a single-stringed musical instrument traditionally used in the Dinarides region of the Southeastern Europe. The instrument is accompanied by singing, musical folklore, specifically epic poetry. The gusle player holds the instrument vertically between his knees, with the left hand fingers on the strings, the strings are never pressed to the neck, giving a harmonic and unique sound. There is no consensus about the origin of the instrument, 6th-century Byzantine Greek historian Theophylact Simocatta wrote about small lyres brought by the Slavs who settled the Balkans, some researchers believe that this might have been the gusle. Others, such as F. Sachs, believe that the gusle has an Oriental origin, arab travellers report evidence that the Slavs used the gusle in the 10th century. Teodosije the Hilandarian wrote that Stefan Nemanjić often entertained the Serbian nobility with musicians with drums, reliable written records about the gusle appear only in the 15th century. 16th-century travel memoirs mention the instrument in Bosnia and Serbia, in the 19th- and 20th century the instrument is mentioned in Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia and also among Albanians. The gusle is derived from the Proto-Slavic verb *gǫsti, to play, many Slavic languages have cognate words, Russian gusli, Czech housle, Polish gęśle. The gusle consists of a sound box, the maple being considered as the best material, covered with an animal skin. A bow is pulled over the string/s, creating a dramatic and sharp sound, expressive, the string is made of thirty horsehairs. The instrument is held vertically between the knees, with the left hand fingers on the neck, the strings are never pressed to the neck, giving a harmonic and unique sound. The most common and traditional version is single-stringed, while a much less-common version is the two-stringed found in Bosanska Krajina and in Lika. The varieties of the music are based on cultural basis. There is minor differing characteristics of vocality in the regions of Southeast Europe, the design of the instrument is identical, only the design of the neck and head varies with ethnic or national motives. The gusle instrumentally accompanies heroic songs in the Balkans, the Serbian gusle has one or two strings and is usually made of maple wood. A guslar is a capable of reproducing and composing poems about heroes and historical events to the accompaniment of this instrument. Polish poets of the 17th century mentioned the gusle in their works, in a poem published in 1612, Kasper Miaskowski wrote that the Serbian gusle and gaidas will overwhelm Shrove Tuesday. In the idyll named Śpiewacy, published in 1663, Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic used the phrase to sing to the Serbian gusle, in some older Serbian books on literature it was stated that a Serbian guslar performed at the court of Władysław II Jagiełło in 1415
Gusle
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typical Gusle.
Gusle
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A "Guslar" playing to a group of people
Gusle
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A gusle instrument from
Zagora
Gusle
–
A
Herzegovinian sings to the gusle (drawing from 1823). Herzegovinian epic poems were often sung to the accompaniment of this traditional bowed string instrument.
46.
Haegeum
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The haegeum is a traditional Korean string instrument, resembling a fiddle. It is popularly known as kkangkkangi and it has a rodlike neck, a hollow wooden soundbox, and two silk strings, and is held vertically on the knee of the performer and played with a bow. The haegeum is one of the most widely used instruments in Korean music, the haegeum is used in court music as well as madangnori. The haegeums range of expression is various despite having two strings, with sounds ranging from sorrowful and sad to humorous. The haegeum is made using eight materials, gold, rock, thread, bamboo, gourd, soil, leather, and wood, and so it is called paleum. According to several sources, references to the haegeum can be found in hanlimbyeolgok made in the Goryeo dynasty, in the Joseon Dynasty, the haegeum was used in various music, that of royal ancestral rites, parades, festivals, and hyangak. The way the haegeum is played changed dramatically since the Joseon Dynasty, in the past, musicians plucked the string as it was tuned, but since that time they have begun pulling the string while they play it to express sound in many ways. To improve the ability of the haegeum, various modifications have been introduced since the 1960s. In 1965, Park Hun-bong and Kim Bun-gi developed a low-tune Haegeum, erhu Huqin Traditional Korean musical instruments Korean music Haegum photo Traditional Korean Instruments
Haegeum
–
Haegeum
Haegeum
–
Jung Su-nyun playing haegeum sanjo
47.
Hardingfele
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A Hardanger fiddle is a traditional stringed instrument used originally to play the music of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings and thinner wood. Four of the strings are strung and played like a violin, while the rest, aptly named understrings or sympathetic strings, the Hardingfele is used mainly in the southwest part of Norway, whereas the ordinary violin is found elsewhere. The Hardingfele is used for dancing, accompanied by rhythmic loud foot stomping and it was also traditional for the fiddler to lead the bridal procession to the church. Sometimes pieces of bone are used to decorate the pegs and the edges of the instrument, the earliest known example of the hardingfele is from 1651, made by Ole Jonsen Jaastad in Hardanger, Norway. Originally, the instrument had a rounder, narrower body, around the year 1850, the modern layout with a body much like the violin became the norm. Specifically, the Hardingfele is a D instrument, meaning that the Hardingfeles written C corresponds to D on a non-transposing instrument, the notes given below for tunings are therefore relative to the Hardingfeles written A, not to a concert A. The understrings are tuned to vibrate according to the main tuning, for example, when the main strings are tuned A-D-A-E, the understrings are tuned B-D-E-F♯-A. The tuning largely depends on the region in which the instrument is being played, in Norway, more than 20 different tunings are recorded. Most hardanger tunes are played in a common tuning, the hardanger fiddle can also be played in low bass, the word bass referring to the lowest string, the normal violin tuning. In certain regions the Gorrolaus tuning is sometimes used, another tuning is called troll tuning. Legend has it that the fiddler learned fanitullen tunes from the devil and this tuning limits the melodic range of the tunes and is therefore sparsely used. The technique of bowing a Hardingfele also differs from that used with a violin and its a smoother, bouncier style of bowing, with a lighter touch. The player usually bows on two of the strings at a time, and sometimes three. This is made easy by the flatness of the bridge. The strings of the fiddle are slimmer than those of the violin, the Hardingfele has had a long history with the Christian church. Well known early fiddle maker Isak Botnen is said to have learned some of his craft from church lay leader and school master Lars Klark, as well as the methods for varnishing from pastor Dedrik Muus. In many folktales the devil is associated with the Hardingfele, in many good players were said to have been taught to play by the devil
Hardingfele
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Hardanger fiddle (Hardingfele)
Hardingfele
–
The strings on a hardingfele
48.
Huqin
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Huqin is a family of bowed string instruments, more specifically, a spike fiddle popularly used in Chinese music. The instruments consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a neck attached that protrudes upwards and they also have two strings and their soundboxes are typically covered with either snakeskin or thin wood. Huqin instruments have either two tuning pegs, one peg for each string, the pegs are attached horizontally through holes drilled in the instruments neck. Most huqin have the bow hair pass in between the strings, the most common huqin are the erhu, which are tuned to a middle range, zhonghu, which is tuned to a lower register, and gaohu, which is tuned to the highest pitch. Over thirty types of instruments have been documented. In the 20th century, large bass huqin such as the dihu, gehu, of these, the gehu and diyingehu would be analogous to occidental double basses, and were designed to have a timbre that would blend in with the sound of traditional huqin. These instruments generally have four strings and fingerboards, and are played in a manner to cellos and double basses. Similar instruments also feature in the traditions of neighboring countries, such as Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia
Huqin
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Huqin
