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Yoke Lutes
Yoke lutes, commonly called lyres, are a class of string instruments, subfamily of lutes, indicated with the codes 321.21 and 321.22 in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification. Description Yoke lutes are defined as instruments with one or more strings, arranged parallel to the sound board and attached to a yoke lying on the same plane as the sound table, composed of two arms and a crosspiece. All of the instruments of the ancient Greek lyre family were played by strumming the strings, but modern African lyres are most often plucked; a few yoke lutes are played with a bow. The sound box can be either bowl-shaped (321.21) or box-shaped (321.22). In the first case, the resonator is often a turtle shell, while the sound board is made of leather. In the second case, usually both the body and the sound board are made of wood. Examples Examples of yoke lutes are the lyre, the ''kithara'', the ''barbiton'', and the ''phorminx'' from Ancient Greece, and the biblical ''kinnor'', all ...
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String Instrument
In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some string instruments, like Guitar, guitars, by plucking the String (music), strings with their fingers or a plectrum, plectrum (pick), and others by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow (music), bow, like Violin, violins. In some keyboard (music), keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord, the musician presses a key that plucks the string. Other musical instruments generate sound by striking the string. With bowed instruments, the player pulls a rosined horsehair bow across the strings, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy, the musician cranks a wheel whose rosined edge touches the strings. Bowed instruments include the string section instruments of the orchestra in Western classic ...
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Strummed
In music, strumming is a way of playing a stringed instrument such as a guitar, ukulele, or mandolin. A strum or stroke is a sweeping action where a finger or plectrum brushes over several strings to generate sound. On most stringed instruments, strums are typically executed by a musician's designated strum hand (typically the musician's dominant hand, which is often responsible for generating the majority of sound on a stringed instrument), while the remaining hand (referred to as the fret hand on most instruments with a fingerboard) often supports the strum hand by altering the tones and pitches of any given strum. Strums are often contrasted with plucking, as a means of vibrating an instrument's strings. In plucking, a specific string or designated set of strings are individually targeted to vibrate, whereas in strumming, a less precise targeting is usually used. Compared to other plucking techniques, any group of strings brushed in a single sweep by a plectrum could be ...
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Organology
Organology (; ) is the science of musical instruments and their classifications. It embraces study of instruments' history, instruments used in different cultures, technical aspects of how instruments produce sound, and musical instrument classification. There is a degree of overlap between organology, ethnomusicology (being subsets of musicology) and the branch of the science of acoustics devoted to musical instruments. History A number of ancient cultures left documents detailing the musical instruments used and their role in society; these documents sometimes included a classification system. The first major documents on the subjects from the west, however, date from the 16th century, with works such as Sebastian Virdung's (1511), and Martin Agricola's (1529). One of the most important organologists of the 17th century is Michael Praetorius. His (1618) is one of the most quoted works from that time on the subject, and is the source of much of what we know about renaissance ...
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Talharpa
The talharpa, also known as a tagelharpa (tail-hair harp), hiiu kannel (originally hiiurootsi (which meant Vormsi island located on the halfway to Hiiumaa) kannel) or stråkharpa (bowed harp), is a two to four stringed bowed lyre from northern Europe. It is questionable whether it was formerly common and widespread in Scandinavia. Historically, it has been played in the Estonian-Swedish areas and in Western Estonia, particularly among Estonian Swedes who came to Estonia around the 10th century from the Swedish part of Finland; they likely brought the instrument with them (later Swedish settlers in Estonia did not know nor use the talharpa.) It is similar to the Finnish jouhikko and the Welsh crwth. Jouhikko, a close relative of talharpa, is still known in Finland. The name ''talharpa'' probably comes from a dialectical form of the word "tagel" – horsehair – from which the strings were made. Background The earliest known Norse literary mentions of a harp or lyre date to ...
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Jouhikko
The ''jouhikko'' (Finnish: �jou̯hikːo is a traditional, two- or three-stringed bowed lyre, from Finland and Karelia. Its strings are traditionally of horsehair. The playing of this instrument died out in the early 20th century but has been revived and there are now a number of musicians playing it. Name The Jouhikko is also called ''jouhikannel'' (Finnish: �jou̯hiˈkɑnːe̞l or ''jouhikantele'' (Finnish: �jou̯hiˈkɑnt̪e̞le̞ʔ, meaning a bowed kantele.Nieminen 2007 , p. 19 In English, the usual modern designation is ''bowed lyre'', although the earlier preferred term ''bowed harp'' is also used. There are different names for the instrument in different languages. Jouhikko.jpg, Three-string jouhikko made by Rauno Nieminen Chadwickjouhikko.jpg, A Chadwick jouhikko History Perhaps the earliest definite depiction of this kind of instrument is the stone carving from Trondheim Cathedral, Norway, dating from the second quarter of the 14th century. 18th-century wri ...
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Crwth
:''See Rotte (psaltery), Rotte for the psaltery, or Rotte (lyre), Rotte for the plucked lyre.'' The crwth ( , ), also called a crowd or rote or crotta, is a bowed lyre, a type of string instrument, stringed instrument, associated particularly with Music of Wales, Welsh music, now archaic but once widely played in Europe. Four historical examples have survived and are to be found in St Fagans National Museum of History (Cardiff); National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth); Warrington Museum & Art Gallery; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (US). Origin of the name The name ' is Welsh, derived from a Proto-Celtic language, Proto-Celtic noun ''*-'' ("round object") which refers to a swelling or bulging out, a pregnant appearance or a protuberance, and it is speculated that it came to be used for the instrument because of its bulging shape. Other Celtic languages, Celtic words for violin also have meanings referring to rounded appearance. In Gaelic, for example, "" can mean "hump" or ...
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Simsimiyya
The ''simsimiyya'' (Arabic: سمسمية, and سنسمية ''simsimyya/sinsimiyya''; pl. ''simsimiyyāt/sinsimiyyāt'') is a box or bowl lyre used in Egypt. Models exist with both circular soundboxes as well as rectangular. In the past, Egyptian models had 5 strings. The strings are held in place by pegs instead of tuning rings. Today, images of the instrument in Egypt may show 12 strings. It has been played since ancient times. It is used in Egypt in certain genres of Egyptian music, including ''Sawahli'' (coastal) music, which is a type of popular Egyptian music from the country's northern coast. The simsimiyya was probably introduced to the country's northern coast from the Nile valley in the 19th century by Egyptian workers in the Suez canal. It is also used in other genres of Egyptian music. Well-known Egyptian bands that feature the simsimiyya as a main instrument include El Tanbura, which uses other Egyptian instruments. The simsimiyya is often used to accompany Egypti ...
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Obokano
The ''obokano'' (also spelled ''obukano'') is a large bass bowl lyre from Kenya. It is used by the Gusii ethnic group. The instrument is made from a skin of a cow or goat and a bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, storing, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom, forming a seamless curve ... like structure curved out of a wood stump. It consists of eight strings whose tensions on the crossbar can be adjusted to produce different tones. It has been described as "the double-bass of East Africa." References Further reading *Hyslop, Graham. "Some Musical Instruments of Kenya." ''African Arts'', vol. 5, no. 4 (Summer 1972), pp. 48-55. *Varnum, John P. "The Obokano of the Gusii: A Bowl Lyre of East Africa." ''Ethnomusicology'', vol. 15, no. 2. (May 1971), pp. 242-248. External links''Obokano'' audio sample
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Nyatiti
The nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked bowl yoke lute from Kenya. It is a classical instrument played by the Luo (Kenya and Tanzania), Luo people of Western Kenya, specifically in the Siaya region south of Kisumu. It is about two to three feet long with a bowl-shaped, carved wood resonator covered in cow skin. Historically, strings were fashioned from cattle tendons, but modern players almost exclusively use nylon and plastic fishing line of various sizes, a move which changed the sound of the nyatiti drastically. The nyatiti as played in Kenya usually has eight strings. Though the register will vary to match a comfortable singing range of the player, a typical tuning will be, from top to bottom, B-A-G#-E-E-D-B-A, where the outside strings are the same note at the same pitch, and the middle two are an octave apart. Many modern players use individual tunings to match their particular musical style. The most common playing style uses the thumb and middle finger of both ha ...
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Litungu
The ''litungu'' is a traditional lyre played by the Luhya ethnic group of Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ... (including the Bukusu subgroup). It has seven strings. Other varieties of ''litungu'' are used by the Kurya and Kisii ethnic groups. References"Some Musical Instruments of Kenya" by Graham Hyslop (''African Arts'', v. 5, no. 4, Summer 1972, pp. 48–55). External links''Litungu'' photoh2> Listening Kenyan musical instruments Lyres {{Lyre-stub ...
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Krar
The ''krar'' (Geʽez: ክራር) is a five-or-six stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is tuned to a pentatonic scale. A modern ''krar'' may be Instrument amplifier, amplified, much in the same way as an electric guitar or electric violin, violin. The ''krar'', along with the ''masenqo'' and the ''washint'', is one of the most widespread musical instruments in Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Role in society Historical In Amhara People, Amhara society, the ''krar'' was viewed as an instrument inspired by the Devil and was therefore inferior, whereas the ''Begena'' was for praising God and seen as sacred. The ''krar'' was used to adulate feminine beauty, create sexual arousal, and eulogize carnal love. The Derg regime banned playing the krar and imprisoned people who played it, especially in the big cities such as Asmara and Addis Ababa. The instrument has been associated with brigands, outlaws, and ''Wata'' or ''Azmari'' wanderers. Wanderers played the ''krar ...
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